The ruins of St Lawrence Chapel

​THE RUINS OF ST LAWRENCE'S CHAPEL

These remnants of building structure were identified as the ruins of Rosary Chapel or 'Capela Ermida de Rosario' which was built in the year 1700. This Catholic Chapel was built as a subsitute to the Saint Lorenzo or Saint Lawrence's Chapel is an epitome of Portuguese Chapel that were built outside the Malacca Fort (Forteleza de Malacca).

Apart of chapels, the Portuguese have also built convents, strongholds as well as residential buildings outside the city walls. These buildings were built in Bukit China, Bukit Pipi (Bukit Senjuang or Saint John's Hills) as well as within the proximity of docking yards along the River of Malacca, such as this particular site. The dimension or design of this chapel is believed to have been simillar to Sacred Heart Chapel in Tranquera or Tengkera, and this Sacred Heart Chapel has also been evacuated.

The role and functions of the Rosary Chapel stopped following the completion of Saint Peter's Church in the year 1710 some hundred meters away from this site.

This was made more obvious with the declaration of Saint Peter's Church as the official main church in Malacca. The Rosary Chapel was still in use, though not as much as it used to be, until the end of the 19th century when it was abandoned, left to decay and eventually crumbled. It is such a sad fate for a building that houses the tombs of Portuguese dignitaries such as Emerinci de Sauza, whose tombstone still remains.