Temples, Mosques and Churches in Malacca

Part of the Malacca travel guide — see every topic in All Malacca Guides.

Malacca's religious buildings are the clearest evidence of what a trading port produced: a Chinese temple from 1645, a Hindu temple from 1781 and a mosque from 1748 standing on the same street, alongside Portuguese Catholic ruins from 1521 and a Dutch Protestant church from 1753, all within a fifteen-minute walk. Several are the oldest of their kind in Malaysia and most are still in active use, which is what distinguishes them from a museum quarter.

Cheng Hoon Teng

Founded in 1645 and the oldest functioning Chinese temple in Malaysia, built with materials and craftsmen brought from southern China. It serves all three Chinese religious traditions — Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism — in separate halls, with the main hall dedicated to Guanyin. The roof ridges carry elaborate cut-and-paste ceramic figures, the beams are carved and gilded, and the courtyards are thick with incense smoke. It won a UNESCO conservation award in 2003 and remains a working temple with a constant flow of worshippers.

Kampung Kling Mosque

On the same street, and one of the most architecturally interesting buildings in Malaysia. Built in its present form in 1748, it follows the Sumatran vernacular — a square plan with a tiered pyramidal roof rather than a dome — and its minaret is a three-tiered structure closely resembling a Chinese pagoda. Inside are Corinthian columns, English and Portuguese glazed tiles, Victorian chandeliers and a Chinese-influenced carved pulpit. It is a genuinely hybrid building and it is still in daily use; visitors are welcome outside prayer times with covered arms and legs.

The Hindu and Christian sites

Sri Poyyatha Vinayagar Moorthi, from 1781, is among the oldest functioning Hindu temples in Malaysia, built on land granted by the Dutch to the Chitty community — Tamil traders who, like the Peranakan Chinese, intermarried locally and developed their own hybrid culture. St Paul's Church, the roofless Portuguese chapel of 1521, and Christ Church, the Dutch church of 1753 with its single-span timber ceiling, cover the Christian side; St Francis Xavier's Church, from 1856, is the Gothic-revival Catholic addition.

Visiting

All are free or take a small donation. Dress modestly: covered shoulders and knees everywhere, with robes lent at the mosque, and shoes removed at the temple and mosque entrances. Avoid prayer times at Kampung Kling. Photography is generally permitted but ask before photographing worshippers and never use flash at an altar. The Street of Harmony — Jalan Tokong, Jalan Tukang Emas and Jalan Tukang Besi — puts all three of the Chinatown buildings within a few hundred metres, and the walk takes twenty minutes.

Temples, Mosques and Churches at a glance

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