The Maritime Museum itself is a replica of the
'Flora de La Mar', a Portuguese ship that sank off the coast of
Melaka while on its way to Portugal, carrying loot plundered from
Melaka. Work on the replica started in early 1990 and it was opened
to the public in 1994. The Maritime Museum was officially opened
by the Prime Minister Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on June 13,
The museum highlights Melaka's importance as a
regional and international business centre from the period of the
Melaka Sultanate, right through the Portuguese, Dutch and British
The Maritme Museum is located at Quayside Road
near the Melaka River estuary. The replica is 34 metres high, 36
metres long and 8 metres wide.
The museum houses exhibits, artifacts and documents
from the Melaka's golden era as the Emporium of the East and reveals
how political control of Melaka was essential to the establishment
of maritime dominance in the region.
The museum also traces Melaka's trading links from
the earliest times through the colonial era, the Japanese conquest
and brief period of Japanese rule, the return of Britain as the
colonial master, the emergence of the independent nation of the
Federation of Malaya and the formation of Malaysia.