MELAKA: SAINT LAWRENCE'S CHAPEL

These remnant of building structure were identified as the ruins of Rosary Chapel or 'Capela Ermida de Rosario' which was built in the year 1700.

This Catholic Chapel was built as a substitute to the Saint Lorenzo or Saint Lawrence's Chapel which was constructed on this site in the 16th century.

The Saint Lawrence's Chapel is an epitome of the Portugese chapels that were biult outside the Malacca Fort (Fortaleza de Malacca).

Apart from the chapels, the Portugese have also built convents, stronghold as well as residential buildings outside the city walls.

These buildings were built in Bukit China, Bukit Pipi (Bukit Senjuang or Saint John's Hill) as well as within the proximity of docking yards along the river of Malacca, such as this particular site.

The dimension and design of this chapel is believed to have been similar to Saint Francis's Chapel in Tranquera or Tengkera, and this Saint Francis's Chapel has also been evacuated.

The roles and functions of the Rosary Chapel started to decline following the completion of Saint Peter's Church in the year 1710 some hundred metres away from this site.

This was made more obvious with the declaration of Saint Peter's Church as the official main church in Malacca.

The Rosary Chapel was still in use, though not as much as it used to be, until the end of the 19th century when it was abandoned, left to decay and eventually crumbled.

It is such a sad fate for a building that houses the tombs of Portugese dignitaries such as Emerinci de Souza, whose tombstone still remain.