Dutch Square

If there's one spot in Malacca that absolutely everyone recognizes, you're standing in it right now! Welcome to Dutch Square, lah — the salmon-red heart of this incredible city and the most photographed location in all of Malacca! Also called Red Square by locals, this vibrant plaza is surrounded by a stunning collection of Dutch colonial buildings that have been painted in that unmistakable terracotta-red colour since 1911. Before that, they were actually white — the red paint was a British-era addition, but it's become so iconic that nobody can imagine Dutch Square any other way now, kan? The grandest building facing you is the Stadthuys, completed in 1660 and believed to be the oldest surviving Dutch building in all of Southeast Asia. For nearly two centuries, this was the seat of Dutch colonial power — the governor's residence and administrative headquarters. Today it houses the History and Ethnography Museum, packed with artefacts that trace Malacca's extraordinary journey through Portuguese, Dutch, British, and Japanese rule. Right beside the Stadthuys stands Christ Church Melaka, built in 1753 and the oldest functioning Protestant church in Malaysia. Step inside and look up — those massive ceiling beams were each carved from a single...