Sightseeing: In with the old

A local government official was recently quoted in the press as saying, "Macau has many realities that exist side-by-side," and most visitors would agree. It's hard not to notice that the spate of brand new casinos luring tourists with their neon lights and promise of instant and fabulous wealth exists cheek-by-jowl with the city's Historic Center, a group of 25 monuments inscribed last year on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

To celebrate this distinction, Macau has designated the 2006 Heritage Year, and the local government is organizing events and promotions that shine the spotlight on its well-preserved architectural heritage and may also shed some light on its exotic and colorful past.

Macau is full of historic buildings, and the ones in the Historic Center were chosen for many reasons, including that they can all be seen during a single afternoon's walk. Put on your walking shoes, pick up a free map at the MGTO info counters at the ferry terminal or airport, and get set to take in a wealth of sites ranging from imposing 16th century forts to the ancient Taoist temple where the first US-China treaty was signed and the iconic Ruins of St. Paul's (above).

Senado Square

(Photo: David Hartung)

At the heart of the group, and the city, is Senado Square (above). This bustling plaza is bordered on one end by St. Dominic's Church, which dates back to the 16th century, and at the other, the old Leal Senado, the 18th century building that was the seat of the former Portuguese administration's government, with its graceful courtyard and imposing library of historic documents stored in richly carved cabinetry. A labyrinth of cobblestone streets lined with shops selling clothing, jewelry, and souvenirs, a must-see on tourists' itineraries, surround them.

Other don't-miss sites in the Historic Center are the A-Ma Temple, where the first Europeans stepped off their boats and named the city after the Goddess of the Sea, the Moorish Barracks with its wedding-cake facades, the Mandarin House, where you can get a glimpse of what domestic life was like for a well-to-do family in years gone by, the elegant and imposing St. Joseph's Seminary and Church, Dom Pedro V Theater, the Holy House of Mercy, Na Za Temple, the Old City Wall and Monte and Guia fortresses. Together, these monuments represent the oldest, most complete and richest European architectural legacy intact in China today.

St. Paul's Ruins

(Photo: David Hartung)
Often seen as the symbol of Macau in brochures and tourist guides, the St. Paul's Ruins represents Macau's blend of East and West. Today, the facade is all that remains of this first Western college in Asia which opened as a religious institution back in 1565 because the church fell victim to fires not once, but three times. A disastrous kitchen fire destroyed the church and college on January 26, 1835, leaving only the facade above a flight of staircase.

Getting there: The St. Paul's Ruins stands squarely in the center of Macau. Once you arrive at Senado Square, and walk past the St. Domingo's church, continue to your right and walk straight until you reach Haagen Dazs. Turn left, walk to the end of the street and take a right. Walk up a slope, where to the left and right you will encounter people baking biscuits or selling Chinese furniture. You will then reach the staircase leading up to the facade.

A-Ma statue: A fabulous mountaintop attraction

(Photo: David Hartung)

Close to the world's tallest statue of the goddess A-Ma (also known as Tian Hou), which stands on a 170-metre high peak on a mountaintop on Macau's Coloane Island, is a 7,000-square-meter Qing dynasty-style complex that honors one of Macau's most beloved deities.

The complex comprises a bell tower, drum tower, carved marble altar in the Tian-Hou Palace, a dressing hall, museum and shops, which visitors approach by six rows of stairs carved with auspicious Chinese patterns including the roaring tiger, double lion, five cranes and double phoenix.

The goddess A-Ma has an estimated 200 million devotees worldwide and has long been revered as the protector of people who make their living on the sea. The village, begun after the first A-Ma Cultural and Tourism Festival of Macau in 2001, today attracts throngs of A-Ma devotees and interested tourists, especially those from the mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Fujian Province, where the goddess is believed to have been born more than 1,000 years ago. A well-known local legend tells of the goddess saving the occupants of a ship during a fierce storm, and ascending afterward into heaven near the site of the historic A-Ma temple, a local landmark believed to have been built during the Ming dynasty.

A-Ma Cultural Village, Coloane