St. Francis Xavier Church

Now look at those twin spires reaching up into the sky — gorgeous, right? This is the Church of St. Francis Xavier, and it's actually the largest church in Malacca and the only neo-Gothic structure in all of Malaysia lah. The story behind this church is quite touching. A French priest named Father Farve from the Paris Foreign Missions Society built it in 1849, completing the main structure by 1856. He named it after Saint Francis Xavier, the legendary Jesuit missionary who spent years in Malacca spreading Christianity across Asia in the 1540s. Xavier is one of those figures who looms large over Malacca's history — a man who walked these same streets nearly five hundred years ago. The architecture is what really sets this church apart, kan? Those twin spires, the pointed arches, the ribbed vaulting — it's all classic European Gothic, but transplanted right here into tropical Southeast Asia. Some historians believe Father Farve modelled it after the Cathedral of St. Peter in Montpellier in southern France. Imagine being a French priest in the 1850s, thousands of miles from home, and building a little piece of France right here in Malacca. Step inside and the first thing you'll...