Muzium Budaya Cheng Ho, or Cheng Ho Cultural Museum (郑和文化馆), is located inside Melaka Old Town and a stone's throw from Jonker Street. The museum is founded in 2006 and restructured from 8 units of shophouses. The site is believed to be the original location of a warehouse where Admiral Cheng Ho stored goods that he acquired for trading in the 14th-century.
The museum has several sections with exhibits featuring stories of the Ming dynasty navy admiral Cheng Ho, or Zheng He (郑和), a Muslim, and his influence on Malaya, but more predominantly in Malacca. Among the exhibits, there is a gallery on Cheng Ho's naval fleet, a gallery of antiques including exquisite vases, a courtyard that has a big old Chinese bell and other olden-day items, etc.
The ship gallery is probably the most impressive with hundreds of wooden models of Chinese junks that formed Cheng Ho's naval fleet — which actually comprised of over a thousand ships. Not only are the exhibits impressive, the stories on Cheng Ho's seven journeys across Asia are interesting too.
One of the exhibits is a lovely mock-up of Malacca Old Town in the old days. Noticed a drum tower and a bell tower above the structure that mimics the museum? They were used to announce the time during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.
Outside the museum, two modern structures of a "drum tower" and a "bell tower" are mounted above and on two sides of the museum but they are hardly noticeable by anyone walking along the narrow street — unless you know they are there and look up to find them. The photo below was taken in April 2024.
In 2006, both the bell tower and drum tower had more rustic feel. They were easily noticeable then due to the open space in front of the museum.
Visit Cheng Ho Cultural Museum to find out more about Malacca's history. Learn how it was found by Cheng Ho and became an important trading port.
Admission Fee:
RM20 for adult
RM10 for children below 12 years old
Address:
51, Lorong Hang Jebat, 75200 Malacca, Malaysia
Opening Hours:
9am to 6pm | Daily
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