Convent Light Street in Penang

Convent Light Street in Penang is also known as the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, a girls' school established in 1852 by a French Sisters' Mission who had arrived from Antwerp in Belgium a year earlier to start the school. Here you can still hear footsteps of history as this is the place where American prisoners from a submarine were held during the Second World War. The Convent is an impressive complex of buildings which once served a wholly different purpose before they were turned into the school.

History of Convent Light Street in Penang

The history of the street or this walled complex goes back to the times of Francis Light. The walled complex of the convent holds one of the oldest buildings in Georgetown, a bungalow once owned by Francis Light which dates back to 1793. The bungalow was later leased to the East India Company in 1803 to be used for Government House, the seat of the Penang Government.

The Convent took over the site in 1859, added a chapel, cloisters for the Sisters, an orphanage, a boarding house for student boarders and several classrooms. During the Second World War, the Convent was turned into a base for the invading Japanese Army who also held captured prisoners within the Convent grounds.

Features of Convent Light Street in Penang

  -  Convent Light Street in Penang is and old structure holding plenty of charms.
  -  The convent is the most important inner city school in Georgetown and the oldest school complex in the country, having remained on this site for almost one and a half centuries.
  -  The chapel of the convent is adorned with stained glass windows imported from France.
  -  The founder, Mother Pauline Marie Rodot who died in 1852, is buried in the Old   -  Catholic burial ground near.
  -  Seven other sisters from the convent who died in the 1890s are also buried here.
  -  If you are lucky to get the permission from the school authority, they will take you to one of the class room which was the infamous internment camp for the captured crew members of the USS GRENADIER SS-210 which was sunk in the Straits of Malacca.
  -  The classroom serves as a memorial site where you can still experience the horror and the ravages of the war.
  -  You can see the carved names of the prisoners which they scratched with their belt buckles on various parts of the classroom walls during their incarceration. 
  -  There is a small memorial to the men along with some photos and news stories.
  -  The survivors sent various mementos to the Convent requesting that they be permanently displayed in the classroom.

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