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 History
· Introduction
· The state crest
· The state flag
· History and historical chronology
· Malacca's historical sites
· Places of interest
· Trivia and folklore
  · The legend of Pulau Besar
  · St. Francis lore
  · The first school in Malaysia
  · Admiral Cheng Ho's famous fingerprints
  · A Chinese princess and a magic well
  · Population of Malacca in 1881
· Malacca Walkabout
  · Historical site walk
  · Religious houses tour
  · Jogging on Bukit China
· Legendary visitors of ancient Malacca
  · Admiral Cheng Ho (Zheng He)
  · Ferdinand Magellan
  · Saint Francisco Xavier
  · Sir Stamford Raffles
  · Yap Ah Loy
· The Malay Sultanate of Malacca
  · The early stages
  · The administration
  · The political functions
· The Portuguese conquest of Malacca
· The Malacca fort 'A Famosa'
· Back to the past
  · Alfred Russel Wallace (1854)
  · Isabella Lucy Bird (1879)
· Old paintings and maps of Malacca
· Black and white pictures of yesteryears
· The ruins of St. Paul's Church
· Birdwatching at Bukit China

St. Francis lore

St. Francis Xavier visited Malacca four times in the 16th. Century. On one of his visits, the story goes he lost his crucifix at sea when he calmed the water during a heavy storm.

Fr. Francis Xavier was travelling from one island to the next in the natives boats and on that particular day there was a big storm and his boat nearly capsized. He held the crucifix in his hand and said a prayer, and then he dipped the crufix in the rough sea which immediately calmed down and the storm went away. But, unfortunately, his crucifix fell to the bottom of the sea. The next day while praying for its return he was surprised to see a crab crawling up the beach to him holding his crucifix in its claws. With great joy he picked up the crucifx and blessed the crab, and the crab disappeared towards the the calm sea. On the shell of this species of crab, there is a distinct sign of the cross. Until today they are still found in the Straits of Malacca, but the Portuguese fisherman believe they are holy and won't eat them.

A tale hard to believe but eye witness to this incident was a Portuguese gunner, Fausta Rodrigues who wrote it down on its dairy which is on display in the National Musuem, Lisbon, Portugal. In the Chapel of the Royal Palce, Madrid, Spain is displayed the crucifix with the scratching of the crab's claws.

St Francis Xavier died off the coast of China and his body was buried in Malacca for six months before going on to its final resting place in Goa, India. In 1614, the Pope requested the right arm of Saint to be severed from his corpse and sent to Rome. Blood was said to have gushed out of the arm even though he had been dead for 62 years. Immediately after Fr Francsi Xavier was canonised a Saint in 1622 what remain of the right arm in Rome was merely skeleton. But the body in Goa remains incorrupt minus the right arm. In 1952 the Bishop of Macau decided to put up a statue in front of the St Paul's Church. A carars marble statue was ordered from Italy and was sculptured by the famous Italian sculpture, G.Toni and was ready for the forth centenary celebrations on the 22 March 1953. One quiet night a huge tree fell, burying the statue. On clearing the branches, the statue was found to be intact except for the right arm which had broken off. This is yet another miracle of St. Francis Xavier to show that his incorrupt body in Goa today is without the right hand. Until today visitor toSt Paul's hill can still witness this phenomenon with the statue standing without the right hand.

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