zh, 基督堂 , image = Firstchurchmelaka.JPG , imagesize = 250px , landscape = , caption = Christ Church, Malacca , location = Malacca City, Malacca , country = Malaysia , coordinates = , denomination = Anglican , previous denomination=

Dutch Reformed The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

, churchmanship = , membership = , attendance = , website = , former name = Bovenkerk (High Church) , bull date = , founded date = 1753 , founder = , dedication = , dedicated date = 1776 , consecrated date = 1838 , cult = , relics = , events = , past bishop = , people = , status = , functional status = Active , heritage designation = , designated date = , architect = , architectural type = Dutch Colonial , style = , groundbreaking = 1741 , completed date = 1753 , construction cost = , closed date = , demolished date = , capacity = , length = , width = , width nave = , height = , diameter = , other dimensions = , floor count = , floor area = , dome quantity = , dome height outer = , dome height inner = , dome dia outer = , dome dia inner = , spire quantity = , spire height = , materials = , parish = , deanery = , archdeaconry = Lower Central Archdeaconry , diocese = Diocese of West Malaysia , province = Province of South East Asia , presbytery = , synod = , circuit = , district = Malacca , division = , subdivision = , bishop = Rt Rev D Stevan Abbarow , dean = , subdean = , provost = , provost-rector = , viceprovost = , canon = , canonpastor = , precentor = , archdeacon =

Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cat ...

Charles Fraser , prebendary = , rector = , vicar = Rt Rev Dr Jason Selvaraj , priest = Rev Paul Khoo Boo Huat , asstpriest = , minister = , assistant = , honpriest = , deacon = , deaconess = Pricilla Chuah Wei Mun , seniorpastor = , pastor = , abbot = , chaplain = , reader = , organistdom = , director = , organist = , organscholar = , chapterclerk = Amos Makeswaran , laychapter = , warden = , flowerguild = , musicgroup = , parishadmin = , serversguild = , logo = , logosize = Christ Church, Malacca is an 18th-century Anglican church in the city of

Malacca City Malacca City ( ms, Bandaraya Melaka or ') is the capital city of the Malaysian state of Malacca. As of 2019 it has a population of 579,000.https://www.dosm.gov.my/v1/uploads/files/6_Newsletter/Newsletter%202020/DOSM_DOSM_MELAKA_1_2020_Siri-81.p ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. It is the oldest functioning Protestant church in Malaysia and is within the jurisdiction of the Lower Central Archdeaconry of the Anglican Diocese of West Malaysia.

History

The Dutch conquest of Malacca from the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...

in 1641 saw the proscription of Roman Catholicism and the conversion of existing churches to

use. The old St. Paul's Church at the summit of St. Paul Hill was renamed the ''Bovenkerk'' (Upper Church) and used as the main parish church of the Dutch community. In 1741, in commemoration of the centenary of the capture of Malacca from the Portuguese, the Dutch

burgher Burgher may refer to: * Burgher (social class), a medieval, early modern European title of a citizen of a town, and a social class from which city officials could be drawn ** Burgess (title), a resident of a burgh in northern Britain ** Grand Bu ...

community decided to build a new church to replace the ageing ''Bovenkerk''. The foundation stone was laid by the Malacca born Captain of the Malacca Burghers, Abraham de Wind, on behalf of his father, Claas de Wind, a prominent Burgher who had been the ''Secunde'' (Deputy Governor) of Malacca. The church was completed 12 years later in 1753 and replaced the ''Bovenkerk'' as the primary Dutch Reformed Church in Dutch Malacca. With the signing of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, possession of Malacca was transferred to the British

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

and in 1838, the church was re-consecrated with the rites of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

by Daniel Wilson, Bishop of Calcutta and renamed Christ Church. The maintenance of the church was taken over by the Government of the Straits Settlements in 1858. Originally painted white, the church and the neighbouring Stadthuys building was painted red in 1911 and this distinctive colour scheme has remained the hallmark of Malacca's Dutch-era buildings since.

Architecture

The church is built in Dutch Colonial architecture style and is laid out in a simple rectangle of by . The ceiling rises to and is spanned by wooden beams, each carved from a single tree. The roof is covered with Dutch tiles and the walls were raised using

Dutch brick Dutch brick (Dutch: IJsselsteen) is a small type of yellow brick made in the Netherlands, or similar brick, and an architectural style of building with brick developed by the Dutch. The brick, made from clay dug from river banks or dredged fr ...

s built on local laterite blocks then coated with Chinese plaster. The floors of the church are paved with granite blocks originally used as ballast for merchant ships. The original Dutch windows were reduced and ornamented after the British takeover of Malacca and the porch and vestry were built only in the mid-19th century.

Artifacts

Tombstones and memorial plaques

The floors of the church also incorporate various tombstones with Portuguese and Armenian inscriptions used as paving blocks. Memorial plaques in Dutch, Armenian and English also adorn the interior of the church. Some Armenian inscriptions provide an interesting panorama of life in the Dutch period:

Greetings, you who are reading this tablet of my tomb in which I now sleep. Give me the news, the freedom of my countrymen, for them I did much weep. If there arose among them one good guardian to govern and keep. Vainly I expected the world to see a good shepherd came to look after the scattered sheep.

I, Jacob, grandson of Shamier, an Armenian of a respectable family whose name I keep, was born in Persia near Inefa, where my parents now forever sleep. Fortune brought me to distant Malacca, which my remains in bondage to keep. Separated from the world on 7th July 1774 A.D. at the age of twenty-nine, my mortal remains were deposited in this spot of the ground which I purchased.

Church bell

The church bell is inscribed with the date 1698 suggesting that it was used for another purpose prior to the completion of the church.

Church administration records

The church's collection of ''Kerk Boek'' (Church Book), ''Resolutie Boek'' (Resolution Book), ''Rapporten'' (Reports) as well as the ''Doop Boek'' (Baptism Register) going back to the earliest Dutch times in Malacca have survived through the centuries. These antiquated documents are now being kept at the National Archives of Malaysia.

Silver altar vessels

Silver altar vessels dating back to the early Dutch period are also in the possession of the church but is kept in storage and rarely taken out for display.

Altar Bible

The altar Bible has a cover made of brass inscribed with the passage from John 1:1 in

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

Service

2 Sunday services are held in this church (English 8.30am, Mandarin 10.30am)

References

Notations

External links

Diocese of West Malaysia
{{Authority control

Melaka Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...

Buildings and structures associated with the Dutch East India Company Churches completed in 1753 Churches in Malacca Former properties of the Dutch East India Company Protestantism in Malaysia Dutch colonial architecture