St. Paul's Church
Gereja St. Paul
A church ruin built by the Portuguese on the hilltop in 1521, the oldest European church site in Southeast Asia, where St. Francis Xavier was briefly buried. Today it is a viewpoint overlooking the old town and the strait.
St. Paul's Church stands on St. Paul's Hill (Bukit St. Paul), behind Dutch Square. Portuguese captain Duarte Coelho built it in 1521. It was first a small Catholic chapel and was handed to the Jesuits in 1548. The missionary St. Francis Xavier preached here many times. After his death in 1553, his body was temporarily buried here for nine months before being moved to Goa. A white statue of him stands in front of the church with its right hand missing, said to echo the legend that his right arm was cut off when his body was taken. The Dutch seized Malacca in 1641 and turned the church into a Protestant church. After Christ Church was completed in 1753, it was abandoned and later used as a battery and a cemetery. Today only the roofless brick walls, the tombs, and the Dutch and Portuguese tombstones along the walls remain, mottled with moss and full of a sense of age. From the hilltop you can overlook the red buildings of the old town, the Malacca River and the reclaimed land along the distant strait, making it a great place to photograph the sunset. Visiting tips: climb the stone steps from Dutch Square for about 10 minutes, visit, then descend the other side directly to A Famosa. The whole walk takes 30–40 minutes, and admission is free. Notes: the stone steps are steep and offer no shade, so bring water and a hat. Street performers and painters often set up on the hilltop.
Opening hours
Open all day (daytime visits recommended)
Nearby sights
- A Famosa (Porta de Santiago)
- Dutch Square (Stadthuys)
- Melaka Sultanate Palace Museum
- Proclamation of Independence Memorial
- Menara Taming Sari
- Cheng Ho Cultural Museum
- Maritime Museum (Flor de la Mar)
- St. Francis Xavier's Church