Porta De Santiago (A Famosa) - Surviving Portuguese architecture in Melaka

Interesting...

Written by Shirley T

Saturday, 10 January 2009 07:58

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Melaka

From the top of St Paul's Hill, if you take the path behind the church and descend down, you will come across an old gate at foot hill. Judging from the structure and concrete carving, it was obviously built by a European hand.
The descending path from St Paul Church
From behind - Red iron is used to sustain the structure
Facade of Porta De Santiago

When I was younger, I remembered this memorable Portuguese ruin was called A'Famosa which means 'The Famous' in Portuguese. According history, A'Famosa was a squarish fortress built by Portuguese in 1512 to defend the attack of the armies from Melaka Sultanate and Acheh. And Porta De Santiago was one of the four main gateway into the fortress. Portuguese capitalized on slave labor to construct the fort's walls of 3 m thick surrounding St Paul's Hill using parts from demolished palaces, royal mausoleums, mosques and tombstones. A watchtower of 40 m high was once stood at Northeast corner of this fortress. Inside the fortress, there were churches, Governor's residence, administration complex, hospitals and other amenities exactly like a well-guarded small village.

According to hearsay, during Dutch attack, A'Famosa fortress was a brilliant shield and manage to hold intact but Portuguese finally lost in the battle due to starvation rather than a failed defense.

After Dutch took over, the fortress was rebuilt and renamed as Dutch East Indian Company or 'Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie' (VOC).
One of the few canons within the vicinity
During British era in 1795, the A'Famosa fortness was ordered to be destroyed for the fear to be used against them when Melaka was handed back to Dutch after Napolean War. Thanks to Sir Stamford Raffles for his timely intervention in 1808 and the demolition stopped. Only Porta De Santiago survived from the damage. Somehow, Dutch never return. Instead, Dutch offered British to exchange Melaka with Bencoolen (Bengkulu) in southwest of Sumatra.
Some interesting corners inside
And the ruin we see today at Istana Road (Fort Terrace) in Melaka is the gate of Porta De Santiogo built by the the first European conqueror in Malaysia and also the last surviving gift of the old Portuguese architecture. A picture with Porta De Santiago is a must otherwise you will not consider yourself visiting Melaka.
Porta de Santiago along Fort Terrace in Melaka