artist illustration of ancient malacca in Malacca Museum

Description of The Sultanate Palace in The Malay Annals

Adapun akan Sultan Mansur Syah pun pindahlah, tiada mahu diam lagi pada istana

tempat Hang Jebat mati itu. Maka baginda memberi titah kepada Bendahara Paduka Raja,

menyuruh membuat istana. Maka Bendahara Seri dia mengadap dia, kerana adat Bendahara

pegangannya Bintan. Adapun besar istana itu tujuh belas ruang, pada seruang tiga-tiga depa

luasnya; besar tiangnya sepemuluk, tujuh pangkat kemuncaknya. Pada antara itu diberinya

berkapa-kapa, pada antara kapa-kapa itu diberinya bumbungan melintang dan bergajahmenyusu;

sekaliannya bersayap layang-layang, sekaliannya itu diukir dan berscngkuap. Pada

antara Serigkuap itu diperbuatnya belalang bersagi; sekaliannya dicat dengan air emas.

Kemuncaknya kaca merah, apabila kena sinar matahari, bemyala-nyala rupanya seperti

manikam. Akan dinding istana itu sekaliannya berkambi, maka ditarupali dengan cermin

China yang besar, apabila kena panas matahari bemyala-nyala rupanya, kilau-kilauan tiada

nyata benar dipandang orang. Adapun rasuk istana itu kulim, sehasta lebamya, dan sejengkal

tiga jari tebalnya. Akan birai istana itu dua hasta lebamya, dan tebalnya sehasta, diukimya

rembatan pintu istana itu empat puluh banyaknya, semuanya bercat dengan air emas. Terlalu

indah perbuatan istana itu, sebuah pun istana raja yang di bawah angin ini tiada sepertinya

pada zaman itu. Istana itulah yang dinamai orang 'Mahligai Hawa Nafsu'; atapnya tembaga

dan timah disiripkan.

-Sulalatus Salatin by A Samad Ahmad

“MULTI-DIMENSIONAL NETWORKING: FIFTEENTH-CENTURY INDIAN OCEAN MARITIME DIASPORA IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN PERSPECTIVE” BY KENNETH R. HALL*

Melaka’s Fifteenth-Century Multi-Ethnic Community

http://www.upf.edu/mon/assig/xialmo/mat/hall_3.pdf

The description of Malacca by Ma Huan in Ying Yai Sheng Lan Chio chu

On the south-east ( corrected - should be south-west) of the country is the great sea; on the north-west ( corrected- should be north-east) the sea-shore adjoins the mountains. All is sandy, saltish land. The climate is hot by day, cold by night. The fields are infertile and the crops are poor and the people seldom practice agriculture.

There is one large river whose water flow down past the front of the king's residence to enter the sea; over the river, the king has constructed a wooden bridge, on which are built more than twenty bridge-pavilions, and all the trading in every article takes place on this bridge.

Images/old maps scanned from a book titled " The stadhuys of malacca- the proposal restoration"

malacca description by chinese explorer

Written accounts by the Chinese recorded that the city was surrounded by a palisade with 4 gates and watch towers. Inside the city wall was a 2nd fortress where money, godowns and provisions were housed. The hill on the south side was where the sultan and his court lived. The main mosque was also situated on the hill. A bridge connected the north and south side with a marketplace contained in a structure of 20 pavilions where commodities of all sorts were sold. North of the river, lived the merchants who were grouped into separate ethnic communities according to their countries of origin. Rich merchants had offices in the city but maintained residence outside the town walls which were staffed with slaves and servants. Beautifully manicured gardens and orchards separated these merchants from the man-on -the- street and to further enhance their position, they wore 'robes of honour'.

The early description of Malacca

It is important to know how Malacca looks like before this project can start. There are several earliest recorded history that is available now written by travelers from east and west.

I shall start by a travel log by Ma Huan.

He was a Muslim voyager and translator who accompanied Admiral Zheng He on three of his seven expeditions to the Western Oceans. The title of the log is

"Ying-Yai Sheng-Lan: ’- The Overall Survey of the Ocean’s Shores’ (1433) "

The dates this log was written is 1433. It is the most earliest recorded history of how Malacca looks like during those time.

Malacca Reloaded

Back to 15th century, it was the largest port in the world. The port turned into a city is named as Melaka. In English, it is called Malacca. In China, it is known as Ma-lan-chia. In Arab, they called it Malakat.

For 100 years, it stood there, until in 1511 when the Portuguese attacked and occupied Malacca for 130 years. The Sultan Palace was burnt down. The Great Mosque was destroyed. Even the tomb are torn into pieces. The history of Malacca was erased and Portuguese then built one of the most strongest bastion from the remaining destroyed building. It is named as A Famosa.

This is a individual project by me to rebuilt the Malacca City at her glory time during the Sultan Muzaffar rules. The first thing to do is to gather all information by trailing back the history of Malacca from various sources.

Lets begin.