This is an interesting church. Originally built by In 1548, St. Francis Xavier with the help of fellow Jesuits, Fr. Francisco Peres and Brother Roque de Oliveira, established a school in the premises of the chapel known as St. Paul's College. This was perhaps the first school in the modern sense to be established on the Malay peninsula. With the conquest of Malacca by the Dutch in 1641, the church was reconsecrated for Dutch Reformed use as St. Paul's Church also known as the Bovernkerk or High Church. The church remained in use as the main church of the Dutch community until the new Bovenkerk (better known today as Christ Church Melaka. See the Red Square (Dutch) album) was completed in 1753.

The old church was then subsequently deconsecrated and the structure modified and strengthened as part of the fortifications of Malacca. The nave of the church was then used as a churchyard.
When the British occupied Malacca in 1824, the church was used as a powder magazine and was allowed to deteriorate further.

I have put in the tombstones that were in the ruins. They are from the old Dutch graveyard nearby.