This sketch is of the Porta de Santiago in Melaka, Malaysia. It is a small gate house which is the only remaining part of a former fortress called A Formosa. It is one of the oldest surviving remnants of European architecture in SE Asia.
The fortress was built in the 1500s after Alfonso de Alburquerque arrived with his fleet from Portugal. It became part of a string of Portuguese outposts used for trade between Portugal and China. The fortress changed hands in 1641 when the Dutch drove the Portuguese out of Melaka and again in the late 18th century when the Dutch handed it over to the British (apparently to prevent it from falling into the hands of the French!). The fortress was saved from demolition by Stamford Raffles (founder of Singapore) and William Farquhar (ancestor of Justin Trudeau). The latter had been sent to see to the destruction of the fortress but he decided to save two of the gateways one of which is the Porta de Santiago.
On the right of the sketch is St. Paul's Hill with the ruins of St. Paul's Church showing. With it's very old graveyard on the hill, the area had a reputation for being haunted.
I spent the first few years of my life in Melaka when my Singaporean father went to work there. This photo is of me, my brother and our mother on the cannon in front of the gatehouse...a long time ago!
This next photo is of my father at the site with our trusty green Morris Cowley car. This looks a more recent photo than the one above.
If collective memory is correct we lived in a row of terrace houses next to the fortress (no signs of this anymore). It seems no one in the family ever saw a ghost.
I see there is now a museum next door to the fortress (left of sketch). I last visited this site while on a family holiday in 2007.
#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #Stillman&Birn Zeta Sketchbook, 7.5”x 7.5”
#virtualsketch #virtualsketching #Porta de Santiago
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