The Historical City Of Malacca

Welcome to Malacca World Heritage City. On this site you
will find comprehensive listing with information on almost
every aspect of visiting and living in Malacca.

Malacca Tourism
· Chinese temples
  · Cheng Hoon Teng Temple
· Hindu temples
  · Comming soon
· Churches
  · Christ Church
  · St. Francis Xavier's Church
  · St. Paul's church
· Mosques
  · Comming soon
· Museums
  · Cheng Ho Cultural Museum
  · Governor's Museum
  · Malaysia Youth Museum
  · Maritime Museum
  · Melaka Islamic Museum
  · Melaka Umno Museum
  · Museum of Architecture
  · Museum of History and Ethnography
· Heritage Sites
  · 8 Heeren Street
  · Bastion House
  · Dutch Graveyard
  · Dutch Square
  · Fortaleza de Malaca
  · Hang Jebat Mausoleum
  · Malacca River
  · Porta de Santiago
  · Proclamation of Independence Memorial
  · Stadthuys
  · St. Paul's Church
  · Tan Kim Seng Bridge
· Malacca clan associations
  · Eng Choon Association
  · Melaka Hainan Association
· Street names
  · Blacksmith Street / Jalan Tukang Besi
  · Church Street / Jalan Gereja
  · Fort Road / Jalan Kota
  · Jonker Street / Jalan Hang Jebat
  · Jonker Walk (Night Market)
  · Riverside / Jalan Laksamana
  · Temple Street / Jalan Tokong

Christ Church

Christ Church, which is located at Dutch Square, is the oldest Protestant church in Malaysia. A legacy of the Dutch era, Christ Church was built in the 18th century with bricks which were specially brought in from Zeeland in Holland. The porch and vestry were added a hundred years after the initial church hall was completed.

Like most of the buildings in Dutch Square, Christ Church was painted maroon. This color scheme does not date from the Dutch, however, but was only applied in the early 20th century, around the 1920s. Originally, Christ Church were faced with exposed bricks. Later, a layer of plaster was applied to the bricks when the authorities discovered the wall was leaking. The plaster was then painted white. When the British changed the color in the 1920's, it was bright salmon red. The maroon red that we see today was the job of the local authorities much later. It has however created a distinctive character to the buildings at Dutch Square.

Christ Church was built to commemorate the centennial of Dutch rule in Malacca. Construction began in 1741, and completed in 1753. It follows an extremely simple design, which is a quintessential church of Dutch architecture - rectangular, with massive walls, red granith plinths and Dutch roof tiles. It is perfectly proportion to the ratio of 2:1, 27 meters long by 13 meters wide. There are no aisles or chancel. However, it has beautifully hand-carved pews, and the massive 15-meter long timber beams supporting its roof were cut from a single tree.

Plaques on the wall of Christ Church commemorate those who died of the various epidemics while stationed in Malacca, reflecting the tough life faced by the Dutch officers in those days. There is also a wooden plaque remembering those who died in World War II, most likely placed there by the British. It sits at the rear of the western wall.

Encased into the floor of the church are tombstones. Some are written in Portuguese and a few in Armenian. Some historians believe that these originally came from St. Paul's Church up on the hill. There is no conclusive agreement as to who put them on the floor of Christ Church. Some argued that they were placed there by the Dutch when they occupied Melaka in 1641. However, this is unlikely for the highly religious Dutch, who were Protestants, to place Catholic tombstones inside their church. Another possibility is that they were installed there much later, by the British.

When the British took over Malacca, they converted Christ Church for Anglican worship and added the weathercock and bell tower. Fortunately, they leave the old Portuguese tombstones that were laid in the floor where they are, and they remain to this day reminding visitors of the Dutch legacy in Malacca.

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We recommend the following site(s):
· The Dutch in Malaysia: Dutchmalaysia.net
· Malacca on Wikipedia: Wikipedia.org