A' Famosa, Melaka

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A Famosa, or "The Famous" in Portuguese, is among the oldest surviving European architectural remains in Asia. Once part of a mighty fortress, this tiny gate (called the Porta de Santiago) is all that is left of a once-mighty fortress.

In 1511, a Portuguese fleet arrived under the command of Alfonso de Albequerque. His forces attacked and successfully defeated the armies of the Sultanate. Moving quickly to consolidate his gains, Albequerque had the fortress built around a natural hill near the sea. The fort changed hands in 1641 when the Dutch successfully drove the Portuguese out of Melaka. The Dutch renovated the gate in 1670, which explains the logo "ANNO 1670" inscribed on the gate's arch. Then the fortress changed hands again in the early 19th century when the Dutch handed it over to the British to prevent it from falling into the hands of Napoleon's expansionist France.

The fort was almost totally demolished except for the timely intervention of Sir Stanford Raffles, the founder of Singapore, who happened to visit Melaka in 1810. Because of his passion for history this small gate was spared destruction.

The Porta de Santiago is the only thing that remains of the A 'Famosa. This used to be a grand city wall. The porta used to be the main gate. Pretty much the whole wall was cannonballed to pieces when the Dutch wanted to take over the city, and they did. This part of the wall was used by the Dutch and it has an inscription of the VOC, the Dutch East India Company.

Porta' refers to 'portal' which means gateway and true enough Porta de Santiago is actually the main gate into the Portuguese fortress of A' Famosa.

Thanks to the foresight of Alfonso d'Albuquerque, the leader of the Portuguese army that seized Malacca in 1511, work on the fort started in 1512.

True enough, the well-constructed fortress enabled the Portuguese to fend off attacks by the Malaccan and Acehnese armies for well over a hundred years.

The Portuguese had used slaves to construct the squarish fort with walls nearly three metres thick. At the northwest corner, there used to be a 40-metre keep, four storeys high that watched over the whole garrison.

There is one curious thing that discerning visitors will notice - this supposedly Portuguese structure bears the coat of arms of the Dutch East India Company. This is because the Dutch, or more specifically, the Dutch East India Company, had used the fort as their headquarters.

They therefore renovated this particular part of the fort and added the company crest as well as the inscription of the year 1670. The inscription is now very faint but if you look closely you might just make out the figures.

Visitors who make their way down St. Paul's Hill, expecting to see the whole fortress will be in for a big disappointment. Alas, the Porta de Santiago is all that remains of the once impregnable fort.

Modern-day visitors will have to thank Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore and the man who had intervened just in the nick of time to stop his countrymen from removing all traces of the Portuguese stronghold.

Continue to A Famosa 2

Continue from A Famosa 1

Having survived numerous vicious attacks for 296 years, the fort would have lasted even until today but for the British. In 1795, after they were to relocated to Penang as their main base, the British decided to destroy the fort so that it would never be used against them.

This unpleasant task fell to the British Resident William Farquhar. Although against the idea, the Resident and his gang of labourers went at the fort with pickaxes and spades and found themselves thwarted.

So Farquhar resorted to using gunpowder and blew up huge chunks of stonewall until Sir Stamford Raffles managed to stop the demolition.

Opposite the Porta de Santiago, visitors will see the large green field known as Padang Pahlawan or Warriors' Field.

There is also a small grandstand near the fortress and it is used every evening for the Sound and Light Show where the audience are presented with the tale of Malacca's historic past.

In the same year, 1511, when the spanish conquistadores stooped upon the innocent Taino Indians decimating them and establishing the ciudad Primada de Cuba, Baracoa, Albuquerque came across the straits to dislodge the local malay sultanate..

The Porta de Santiago is part of a fortress of the A Famosa, built by the Portuguese in 1511. It was damaged by the Dutch during an attack. Timely intervention by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1808 saved the fort from destruction and its gateway still stands today.

Besides the ruined church on the hill, those Portuguese masters also left behind a solid fort gate at the base of the hill in Melaka. Now, you may know this famous symbol of Melaka as A' Farmosa but that is as far removed from the truth as Melaka is from Timbuktu. The gate is called Porta de Santiago. Though nothing more that a ruin with a modern cannon, it's still worth taking a look. You'll want to see this after listening to this interesting story that connects the fort with the founder of modern Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles!

In 1808, Porta de Santiago was nearly lost forever to history as orders were given by the British Governor of Pahang to demolish it, along with the fortress at the mouth of the river. Unfortunately for the locals ( and luckily for us ), their spades, picks and crowbars were useless against a fortress which reportedly had walls fifteen feet thick! But before they could use gunpowder, Stamford Raffles stepped in and saved what tourists can see today! Thanks to him, we can see the grand construction of the fort and the Dutch logo that the sods imprinted on the Portuguese fort after seizing control. Click here to see the Dutch logo.

Now, if you've read my earlier instalment, you would have noted that A'formosa is no more than a gate and the church of St Paul's no more than a burnt out shell. Now look at this old Dutch map. Can you see a long-walled fort and the grand church on top a hill?? Yes, those are the original structures in ol' Melaka. Apparently, this must have been an artist's impression before the Dutch rained some 18,000 cannon balls on the city....