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The imposing dark timber palace of Istana Ke Sultanan (daily 9am-6pm; closed Fri 12.15-2.45pm; RM2) on Jalan Kota is a reconstruction of the original fifteenth-century istana, complete with sharply sloping, multi-layered roofs. Inside, you'll find re-creations of scenes from Malay court life, as well as costumes and local crafts. East of here, the Independence Memorial Museum (Tues-Thurs, Sat & Sun 9am-6pm, Fri 9am-noon & 3-6pm; free - closed for renovation at the time of writing) charts the events surrounding the lead-up to independence in 1957, but unfortunately it's poorly laid out. The Muzium Rakyat on Jalan Kota (daily 9am-6pm; Fri closed 12.15-2.45pm; RM1.50) houses several displays, but its most interesting is the Museum of Enduring Beauty on the third floor, which shows the many ways in which people have sought to alter their appearance, including head deformation, dental mutilations, tattooing, scarification and foot-binding. St Paul's Church - roofless, desolate and smothered in ferns - was constructed in 1521 by the Portuguese, and visited by the Jesuit missionary St Francis Xavier, whose body was brought here for burial; and a brass plaque on the south wall of the chancel marks the spot. A winding path beside the church brings you to the sturdy Stadthuys , a collection of buildings that dates from 1660 and was used as a town hall during the Dutch and British administrations. It boasts typically Dutch interior staircases and high windows, and now houses the Museum of Ethnography (Wed, Thurs, Sat-Mon 9am-6pm; Fri 9am-12.15pm & 2.45-6pm; RM2), which displays Malay and Chinese ceramics and weaponry and a blow-by-blow account of Melakan history. The Maritime Museum (daily 9am-9pm; closed Fri 12.15-2.45pm; RM2), on the quayside to the south of Stadthuys, is housed in a replica of a Portuguese cargo ship that sank here in the sixteenth century. Model ships and paintings chart Melaka's maritime history. Heading north of Stadthuys up Jalan Laksamana, skirting the busy junction with Jalan Temenggong and taking Jalan Bendahara directly ahead, you're in the centre of Melaka's tumbledown Little India , a rather desultory line of saree shops, interspersed with a few eating houses. East along Jalan Temenggong brings you to Bukit China (RM6 by taxi or trishaw), the ancestral burial ground of the town's Chinese community; it dates from around 1409 but is now used as a park.
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