Chinese Pottery were being displayed.

A meeting held in the palace by the Sultan. All the people of different heritage culture attends and can be identified by the way they dress.

These are the Chinese traders that came to trade in Malacca during the Ming Dynasty. The clothes they wear is very traditional.

They were traders from Java. They came to Malacca for trading of food supplies and other stuffs. The clothes thry wear is a bit different.

The corridor when you enter the palace was so long. The floor was smooth in texture. There is also a map which shows where the different sections of the palace are.

A model on the actual Malacca Sultanate Palace. It gives an overview on the whole place and as the details are so intricate, it should have taken quite a lot of time to built up this model. All the details were put into the model and compare to the real one, it does not seem to have any difference except it is a whole lot smaller in size.

Heard from one of the guide that the actual Malacca Sultanate Palace was built purely WITHOUT any nails!!! Amazing isn't it? A building able to be pieced together and stil stay in a good condition all these years and it was not because it was built on nails......

Malacca Sultanate Palace

This palace of the Malacca Sultanate showcases an exquisite piece of Malay architecture, and is situated at the foot of the St. Paul Hill. Built from sketches found in the ancient Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals) and using traditional craftsmanship, it is a replica of Sultan Mansur Shah's palace, the famous Sultan who ruled Melaka from 1456 to 1477.

The Malacca Sultanate Palace houses Malacca Cultural Museum and contains currently some 1,350 items in the form of artefacts, prints, photographs and drawings which represent the history and cultural heritage of the Malay Sultanate of Melaka and the various communities, which came to settle in Melaka during that period.

The three-storey building is divided into eight chambers and three galleries including chambers of the Royal band, weaponry, decorative arts, emissaries and gifts, a recreation hall, an audience hall and an Islamic hall.

The galleries depict the famous clash between the legendary warriors Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat, traditional costumes and the royal bedchamber. Exhibits which include prints and photographs of the Melaka Sultanate, Malay weapons, Malay traditional wedding dress, jewelleries and brassware.
The items in the Malacca Sultanate Palace itself are good for learning history and the stories they tell are facinating. There are life like figures which wears the different tyoes of costumes and each tells a different history. There are also other cultural heritage of foreigners first setting foot into the country.

Food!!!! Food was seen sold by Malay people outside one of the houses.

Hmmm...... A combination of many things?

An assortment of souvenirs that tourist can buy!!!! Wow! So many!

A wide expanse of space in the house!!!!! I wonder how many people can be in this house at the same time?

Wow!!! Whenever the Malays need water, they would have to travel outside of their homes to get it. We are lucky enough living in the modern society that water is just an arm's length away in our homes.

Discovery!

Among my group members, I guess I was the only one surprised to find a ladder that leads up to an ATTIC! I did not realise that the house was big enough to contain an attic......

Melaka Malay House

The Melaka Malay House has one very distinctive and eye-catching feature....... and it is the STAIRS! The stairs itself is very different from the other houses as it is built with some sort of marble like material. The beautiful concrete and multicolorated doorsteps indicate traces of chinese and colonial influences. The main structures are usually build of wood mainly of Cengal , Meranti or Damar laut. The roofing (attap) meterial are either from Rumbia or Nipah palm.

Verandah House

Such 1000 years old Architectual heritage are becoming extinct and only few could be found in valage which are not directly affected by the rapid growth of development. As the name suggested, it comprised of two main structures namely the main unit and walled covered verendah unit along the front of the main structure. The main are the further divided into 2 main areas by a passage name 'selang'. The unit is characterized by its long roof and covered verendah.

Limas Bungkus House

Only few of the Architectural Heritage are found in the Besut District which was upgraded since the last 40 to 59 years back.

 As the name Limas suggested, the roofing construction comprised of 1 long ridge interconnected with 4 others shorter ridges which projected downwards towards 2 respective edges to form the roof

A malay woman is sitting outside on the Long Roofed House and making traditional items by herself.

An opening at the side of the door revealed the backyard. The many wooden planks built and shown in the image is for the house owner to sit and enjoy the view of the backyard.

Doors to rooms in the Long Roofed house are only seperated by curtains and if it is drawn, others will take it as the owners of the rooms wants privacy and woould not intrude into their rooms. The bedrooms are simple in the furnishing as there is only a bed and a closet in it.

A display of cooking utensils were found further into the house. The cooking utensils used to cook food in the traditional malay house is soo much different than the modern ones we have. I wonder if using this method of cooking would be more tedious and if it will save cost?

A display of glasswares, baskets and a vase of flowers are spooted in a corner.

An impressive painting on a fan is hanged as a decoration on the wall of the house. The painting itself seems to be showing traditional malay houses surrounded by foliage.

Dishwares can be seen placed in a cupboard at a corner. The way the dishwares were placed is also good as it shows a very organized state and it is also easier to find the appropriate dishware when needed.

A few decorations were placed in the house.

In the Long Roofed House, other than the interior of the house iteself is interesting, there was a display of items which we guessed are items that were used by the people living in the long roofed house daily.

The windows itself helps in providing ventilation into the house too. The windows were not shut, thus allowing wind to enter the interior of the house.

A fan is attached to the roof for ventilation purpose on a sunny day! When we first step into the long roofed house, I felt that the interior of the house is cooler compared to the exterior and the fan was not even ON! I think it is because of the materials that were used to built the house itself and also the ceiling of the roof is high enough that it provides maximum ventilation. There are also lighting attached to the house for night usage when there is no natural lighting.  

Interior of the Long Roofed House

The interior view of the long roofed house. The pattern of the roof can be seen and also part of the wall in dark brown colour. The interwoven criss-cross is evident on the wall of the house. The tiling of the roof can also be seen from this angle. The roof is high and it allows maximum ventilation in the room so that it would not be stuffy even if a lot of people is in the house at the same time.  

Long Roofed House

There are alot of different types of houses.
The first house we came across was the Long Roofed House.

The Long Roofed House is traditional houses that can be found in Perlis. The long roofed feature was adopted for the past 70 years. The skeletal structure of the house is made from Chengal and Demar Laut Wood with its main structure standing on more than 24 such post.

Senggora tiles were used for its roofing material and the external wow and partition of the unit are made of bamboo strip interwoven into a criss-cross pattern.

This is the entrance to Taman Mini Malaysia & Mini ASEAN.

The Taman Mini Malaysia & Mini ASEAN is located a few kilometres outside Malacca near the town of Ayer Keroh. This is a great place to go exploring because each of the homes represents the architectural style of the 13 states in Malaysia, furnished with items, arts and crafts which depict the culture of each state.

On the First Day.......

We went to the Taman Mini Malaysia & Mini ASEAN after we arrived in Malacca.

Vernacular Architecture

During the December holidays, our school brought us to Malacca for an overseas study trip. We were all split into groups of three and tasked to choose a topic to work on. We decided on the Vernacular Architecture. Under Vernacular Architecture, there are 3 places of interest to study on. They are The Taman Mini Malaysia & Mini ASEAN, Malacca Sultanate Palace and The Muzium Seni Bina Malaysia.