Kampung Hulu Mosque

Kampung Hulu Mosque (Malay: Masjid Kampung Hulu) is an old mosque in Malacca Town, Malacca, Malaysia.

Built in 1728, Masjid Kampung Hulu is the oldest functioning mosque in Malaysia in its original location, at the corner of Jalan Masjid Kampung Hulu and Jalan Masjid in the old commercial district, now dominated by Chinese shop-houses. Commissioned by the Dutch during their colonial occupation, the mosque was a result of a new policy of religious pluralism. Their colonial predecessors, the Portuguese, had destroyed all signs of non-Christian establishments upon their occupation in 1511.

Kampung Hulu Mosque today, with a row of four-and-a-half story shop houses on the left hand side of the picture. The wall has been expanded, and the old door at the entrance is no longer in sight.

This included the tearing down of Malacca's first mosque, which had reputedly stood across from where the Stadhuys, the 1650s Dutch town hall that also served as the offices of the Dutch East India Company stands today. The Dutch assigned coordinating "Kapitans" to head the local populations in the reconstruction of their places of worship. Dato Samsuddin Bin Arom, or Dato Shamsudin, was commissioned to build the Masjid Kampung Hulu. It was later renovated by Wazir Al Sheikh Omar bin Hussain Al-Attas.

" This fascinating and ancient mosque has a multi-tiered "meru" roof, which owes its inspiration to Hindu temples, and a watch-tower minaret typical of early mosques in Sumatera and Java."

Partly due to the Dutch encouragement of cultural cross-pollination, the style of the mosque is reflective of a Javanese mosque. The regionally characteristic roof consists of three ascending layers of flared pyramidal roofs, separated by gaps to allow direct air and light into the building. These tiers are held aloft by four great columns in the center extending to outer columns for the lower, wider roofs. The centralized vertical hierarchy lends the structure to a square plan only disrupted by a small section of the porch area of the iwan, which juts from the front of the mosque. Masjid Kampung Hulu does not employ the Javanese tradition of using timber as the material for the walls, and instead engages stone and brick. The mosque is similarly unique in its elevation from the ground on a low stone perimeter wall.

Like other Malaccan mosques, Chinese ornamentation is revealed in the Masjid Kampung Hulu, including the crown like pinnacle surmounting the roofs and the curved eaves. It further incorporates materials imported from the Chinese Qing Empire, such as ceramic roof and floor tiles. Masjid Kampong Hulu further asserts its distinctiveness in its use of carved sea stones lining the inside of the dome.

Its stone minaret is also distinctly Malaccan in its adherence to a pagoda-form. The Tranquerah mosque was built in Malacca in the same year. 

From another postcard, the Kampung Hulu mosque with a white rooftop could be more recent than the one on the previous postcard. We can see that the roof of the mosque was covered with zinc, and there were vehicles on the road that looked much more modern than the bullock-carts.

You can also see the Melaka River not too far away from the front of the mosque. The building on the left behind has disappeared and changed, whereas some buildings on the right behind the mosque have been demolished.

View the mosque roof.

From the most recent picture, it can be seen that on the left hand side of the river are a row of four-and-a-half storey buildings built about 30 years ago.

Kampung Hulu Mosque's appearance is still pretty much the same today as two centuries ago, only that the surroundings have changed drastically over the years.

The 283-year-old mosque remains an important place for Muslims to visit and offer their prayers.

Address : Jalan Tokong  Melaka
Tel : 06-282 6526

Cheng Ho's Cultural Museum

Had our simple buffet style breakfast at Cheng Ho Cafe, and follow by a nice tour at Cheng Ho (Zheng He) Cultural Museum (N2.195301 E102.248653) which is located at Lorong Hang Jebat of Melaka.

The Museum was restored from the Original Cheng Ho warehouse complex or Guang Chang where Cheng Ho Treasure Fleet visited Malacca (Melaka) at least 5 times in his the seven voyages to Western Ocean, interesting part was...all the buildings have the Ming architecture style.

Cheng Ho Cultural Museum at Malacca.

The entrance fee is RM20 for adult and RM10 for children. It's reasonable with the rich information Museum.

"Zheng He led seven expeditions to what the Chinese called "the Western Ocean" (Indian Ocean). He brought back to China many trophies and envoys from more than thirty kingdoms – including King Vira Alakeshwara of Ceylon, who came to China as a captive to apologize to the Emperor.

There are speculations that some of Zheng's ships may have traveled beyond the Cape of Good Hope. In particular, the Venetian monk and cartographer Fra Mauro describes in his 1459 Fra Mauro map the travels of a huge "junk from India" 2,000 miles into the Atlantic Ocean in 1420. What Fra Mauro meant by 'India' is not known and some scholars believe he meant an Arab ship. However, Professor Su Ming-Yang thinks "the ship is European, as it is fitted with a crow’s nest, or lookout post, at the masthead, and has sails fitted to the yards, unlike the batten sails of Chinese ships."  Source from Wiki.

The statue of Cheng Ho once you step into the Museum.

The History of Cheng Ho :-
"Zheng, born as Ma He (馬和 / 马和), was the second son of a Muslim family which also had four daughters, from Kunyang, present day Jinning, just south of Kunming near the southwest corner of Lake Dian in Yunnan.

In 1381, the year his father was killed, following the defeat of the Northern Yuan, a Ming army was dispatched to Yunnan to put down the army of the Mongol Yuan loyalist Basalawarmi during the Ming conquest of Yunnan. Ma He, then only eleven years old, was captured by the Ming Muslim troops of Lan Yu and Fu Youde and made a eunuch. He was sent to the court of one the emperor's son, Zhu Di the Prince of Yan, where he was called San Bao (三寶/三宝, or 三保) meaning Three Jewels." If you want to know more about the history, please visit Wiki.

The Cheng Ho Famous Ship name Bao Chuan (Treasure Fleet).

China had the excellent ship expertise during the Ming Dynasty. The Bao-Chuan (Treasure ship of Zheng He) was A large wooden vessel commanded by the Chinese Admiral Zheng He on seven voyages in the early 15th century.

"The purported dimensions of these ships at 137 m (450 ft) long and 55 m (180 ft wide) and a capacity of 2800t are at least twice as long as the largest European ships at the end of the sixteenth century and 40% longer and 65% wider than the largest wooden ships known to have been built at any time anywhere else. These dimensions are disputed on practical engineering grounds with some suggesting they were as short as 61–76 m (200–250 feet) or that they could only have been used on special occasions in the relative safety of the lower Yangtze river." If you like to know more about the Bao-Chuan (Treasure Ship).

Beside the History of Zheng He (Cheng Ho), the Museum also contain some little notes about the "The Legend of Puteri Gunung Ledang" and "Hang Tuah".

We saw many big and small wells along the way in the Museum...and I believe as long as there's well, that should be the territory of the warehouse complex.

One of the well in the Cheng Ho Cultural Museum.

Zheng He (Cheng Ho) and his Bao-Chuan - Treasure Fleet (which can accommodate about 500 peoples) started the first voyage on year 1405 and the last 7th voyage was on year 1433.

Cheng Ho's Treasure Fleet (partial) on his first voyage on year 1405.

The Bao-Chuan of Cheng Ho (Zheng He) which was not in scale.

The sailing route (sea map) by Cheng Ho Treasure Fleet.

Among all the display and the history corner of the Museum, I like the Miniature of Melaka very much! Photos below...

Miniatures of peoples at Malacca.

Miniatures of Malacca.

Once we finished most of the area in the Museum, we had been directed to a Nice garden with Full of antiques especially the unique building architecture! I called - 'The Time Machine'.

There was a tea garden area for visitors enjoying the tea and also admiring the Cheng Ho History from the Chinese Classical Puppet theater just opposite...

The Chinese Classic Puppet Show theater.

The Tea Garden in Cheng Ho Cultural Museum.

The History of Zheng He (Cheng Ho) in the puppet show.

We spent about an hour in the area and it was not enough time for me to explore every corner of the Museum...really appreciated to the Organizers of 'A Date with Bloggers' at Melaka who arranged the tour.

I will definitely visit back again for every detail of Cheng Ho History, because he was the guy who made a huge influence to Malaysia and also to Singapore...