Melaka: St Paul Church

http://www.haiwaiyou.com/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=2065

Built by Duarte Coelho, a Portuguese Captain in 1521 AD, the church was formerly a chapel for the Portuguese and it was named as “Nosa Senhora” - Our Lady of the Hill. Although these valuable ruins have been standing on top of the summit of St. Paul Hill in Melaka for centuries, the strong and thick bricks still remind one of the magnificence architecture of the chapel.

As Melaka was colonised by the Dutch from the hand of Portuguese in 1641, the fate of this former Portuguese chapel had been significantly changed. It was being used by the Dutch as a temporary praying place before their own church – the Christ Church was being completely constructed. Since that, the Dutch has renamed the Portuguese Chapel from “Nosa Senhora” – Our Lady of the Hill to St. Paul Hill.

When the Dutch’s Christ Church was completed, St. Paul Hill no longer played its role as a praying place and the Dutch turned it into a burial ground and graveyard. Several monumental tombstones, with Dutch words engraving on it were leaning against the wall in the church. The tombstones and the graveyard nearby were places for the Dutch to mourn their ancestors while they settled down in Melaka centuries ago.

In front of the church stood a huge pearl-white statue - the status of St. Francis Xavier. 27 years after Duarte Coelho built the church, Don Albuquerque, the Archbishop of Goa in India handed the church to the Society of Jesus. St. Francis Xavier, as the pioneer Catholic Missionary that time was appointed to receive the title on behalf of the society in 1548.

(From: http://www.malaysiavacationguide.com/st-paul-church.html)

Statue of St. Francis Xavier in front of St Paul Church, Malacca.