The Stadthuys is the old city hall during the Dutch Colonial period, but is now both a tourist attraction and a museum. Like much of Dutch Square, this building is also painted red. Most people seem content to come to the square just to get their photograph taken and not so many visit Stadthuys Museum Complex. The Stadthuys Museum is one of five museums inside the complex and is a history museum of Malaysia up to present day with sections dedicated to pre-colonial times through the rules of the Portuguese, Dutch, British and Japanese. The exhibits are a bit of a mixed bag. The majority of the exhibits are of good quality with well written descriptions. The museum also presents history using paintings which are okay, but the description accompanying the paintings feel like they’ve been written by a secondary school student. My favourite part of the museum is on the 2nd floor, called the Cheng Ho Gallery which details the exploits of the famous mariner of the 15th century.

The old Dutch City Hall now houses a museum of Melaka's history, ethnography and literature, tracing the town's colonial and Malay past. Personally I found the presentation of the information rather dull - lots of depictions of historical events with detailed descriptions mostly at waist level, often in fairly dark rooms. There was nothing to guide the visitor through the chronological sequence of events, i.e. whereabouts to begin and how logically to proceed from room to room. I felt that a fresh look was needed as to how the exhibition was curated - it all seemed rather old-fashioned to me. However, if you're really into history then it's definitely worth a visit. There's a lot of fascinating information there just, for me anyway, poorly presented.

You will probably stumble onto Dutch Square while in the old city of Melaka. It seems to be the place to be. And that's part of the appeal. I recommend going there at night and during the day. At night it's full of garishly lit tuk tuks blaring loud music carrying smiling tourist. It seems like everyone is having a great time. In the day it's still full of people, but it's less hectic. There are a lot of museums in the area that are worth ducking into to learn more about the history of Melaka. And the buildings are beautiful to look at. It's a worthwhile place to visit.