As a walkable adjacent to hill wise to the Ruins of St. Paul’s is the hill side Portuguese fortification of, – Fortaleza do Monte in which is adjacent to only fifty meters away.. in which walking the historically steps of Mount Hill.. In which those steps aside has old as the Ruins of St. Paul Church, in which you have to be respectable in this area as you walk up wards in beginning of the steps, is also an extension graveyard crypt of the Church… also the fort provides a protection of the St. Paul’s Church below..
Walking up among those historical stone stairs in which leads up towards a modern escalator, in which midway leading towards modern visitor center in which show case along the way the historical significant of place.. In which in the center is the Maco Museum, as below the stair ways there’s a small market square space in which selling souvenirs….
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As walking onwards outside of the Fortaleza do Monte, I could see the all-encompassing view of layers of Macau city neighborhood landscape… as its history unfolds with all the cannons gunnery emplacements readiness in defending the fort also the Church of Saint Paul’s below, tactically placed to with one of its Alarming bells to signal the fort….. Looking around in the fort the main fortifications seeming the fort operations seeming it covers all sides of protecting the township below…
as looking into the distance Macau skyline transition from older traditionally to new with a crystal skyline towers..
Looking in the distance is Mainland China, across the Harbour one of heaviest patrol Harbors in the world with constant patrol boats patrolling in between sides of Macau –SAR each Border patrolling on their partaking… as walking to one placement of the cannons looking at the older casinos of Macau, with that 1950’s retro last Vegas look… in that area where its modernized with wider roads, than the older Macau road in which was designated for horses carriages in those days, now those roads are now replaced with scooters with smaller cars to get around in with alley way streets in which you have to drive one way in which you’ll have to know the street outlining pretty well in which Google maps helps..
Looking in the distance with the Harbour channel in view this part of the city is defending within the capable outline of the cannon emplacements especially from the Harbour in those days still the Harbour also the river way…..
“……It is traditionally to throw coins into the top window of the ruins of St. Paul’s from the stairs, for luck……”
As walking from the Macau’s oldest city Center, the Senado Square in which is located in which interconnecting with districts of Largo do São Domingos at one end and Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro……As walking from Senado Square towards the St 16th century Dominic Church in which is design baroque style… With its yellow yoke iconic painted walls, it was time to walk through alleys the streets to R. da Palha, towards the R. da Sao Paulo road….. in which walking through those streets I begin to see the older Macau character taking shape as transitioning from current to hybrid in between, from the past as I studied the buildings history as I walk passed by.. as the front stores, with its back alley ways gives a glimpse of Macau past with painted walls painted skin peeling like its sun burnt skin slowly as it reveal its history from within of how the building is conceptually constructed ..
As walking towards the Ruins of St Paul’s, walking among a busy alleys of R. da Sao Paulo road the alley stores shows the transitioning moments in time in which there are traditional stores remaining with old buildings dated as far back also accommodating with the new alterations that placed in keep it up with the present .. But as I explored more into the building looking at the upper levels show a different story of it’s current to its past inhabitants… exploring in different building within the alley ways sidingly reveals another paragraph as it buildings turns the pages for I as I soak in the words of the place..
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Trekking onwards toward a long stretch of that Alley road R. da Sao Paulo, as the street stores transition from its past towards the a modern open community square in the walking distances as the curvature of the street Sao Paulo road begins to reveal slowly as ones walking pace in unveiling view of Saint Paul’s Church……in the wide open spaces.. Its iconic facade of the building that stood the remains also it’s testing of its time…..
Walking towards the Saint Paul’s Church Facade… I notice it hasn’t changed much from the Black and white postcard like photographs with delicate intricate lacy trim frames that I’ve seen in my childhood with those Matt glossy finishes… Thinking back to those photographs, thinking those noticeable changes would internal modern structural ones as to reinforce it through its defiant testimony of time in tactile colours…
The Ruins off St Paul’s church (大三巴牌坊) design by Charles Spinola, was constructed during the seventh century in the Santo Antonio, which previously there was St. Paul’s College nearby in which the church is dedicated to the Saint Paul Aposite….. Built during the years of 1602 to 1640, in which taken least thirty eight years to build… In which was design by Jesuits Collegiate, a Catholic Church Collegiate… looking around the Facade of the building seeing the front remains of the church, in which is the sub-terrain also it partial walls of the church that still remains intactly restorationary……
The façade was conceived during the one day on 26 January 1835 during a massive typhoon onslaught, on setting onto Macau, in which initially secondary the church was destroyed by fire after the typhoon winds collapsed the structural integrity in which primary set a catalyst of events that eventually became the iconic landmark …
Within the fallen ruins of the St. Paul’s church I notice is there are dozen or more Crypts that were uncovered during within the foundations of the building, in which there was entombment of the Christian Chinese Martyrs also the Monastic Clergy… also what was uncovered during the restoration is the architectural plans and layout of the church buildings in which gave the insights of the hidden artifacts secrets that was hidden for quite some centuries time ….
….. Built during the years of 1602 to 1640, in which taken least thirty eight years to build… In which was design by Jesuits Collegiate, a Catholic Church Collegiate
Looking around in the distance within the façade, internally and externally, those historically pavements that I walking on, looking around externally there’s a small temple altar nearby, the Na Tcha Temple, orthough its smaller incomparsion it’s was built in the 1888, the Name of that temple rings a bell in with Na Tcha a childlike deity- Child god of War whom brought an end to a ravaging plague to the region during that time.. Also was defeat by Sun WuKong otherwise known as the monkey king, that’s another story to tell..
Looking around is up the hill is the fortification The Monte Fort, in which this place was once heavily fortified with the Portuguese fort nearby that another…
My next location after finding a good tour guide from is Agencia De Viagens.- Seng Wang Limitada.. is going into the Portuguese-Macau center square in which after traveling from the Macau Harbour Terminal, in which touring around the streets, the older streets in which those days before cars, known the four wheel automobile in which.. Horses, carts, horses carriages….. as travelling, touring around in a Mobile Person Vehicle… in a brown Toyota vehicle.. The tour guide driver tells the story of the street layout, in which there are tight enough for small street cars, scooters, are very popular to get around the old streets of Macau, as I notice more scooters around in Macau than in Hong Kong patience driving behind them as we passed one of the clinics that the Founder of the Republic Doctor Sun Yet Sen work in as he prepared for laying the foundations of the Republic precursory that year 1911….
As driving pass by the clinic in which, contained various medical utensils that he used during that time, in treating his patience as seen through the museum, in the nearby small hospital that’s contain his statue within the clinics courtyard…..
As you can see the secondary door way that leading up to the other pavilion temples in which is dedicated to deities, immortals great sages, also it’s dedicated to Goddess of Mercy -Guanyin….
My next stop is the 15th century A-Ma Temple in which is locatingly in Barra Square, very near towards nearby the Maritime Museum.. In which is built in 1488 AD, in which is dedicated in to the sea Goddess, Mazu, located in Sao Louurenco, in which is which is one of Macau’s oldest temples in the Special administrative Region.. Its first western depiction is once illustrated by a English artist architect- Thomas Allom…….. in which the temple is located on the doorstep on once was a shoreline.. now that doorstep have located further out into reclaim land that once berth its native to colonially sailing ships..
When you think of region of Macau in which the given inspired name for the region is inspired from the, The A- Ma Temple, as Portuguese Sailors landed on the Peninsula, in which that name is of the Temple of the Pavilion of the Mother..
one of the organically temples in which it is a home to an immortal whom lives within the confines of that rock..
Entering towards the Main Gate of the Temple is like stepping back in time as far back towards 1488, in which, stepping back in time where you can see, feel, smell, the acumination of all that as I walked through the temple main gates into various ones that walking beforehand you can feel see ancient paint works still back then still tells the stories of its time as the trees that grow within the various courtyards in between Gate Pavilion, the Memorial Arch, prayer Hall, Hall of the Benevolence, in which is the oldest section of the Temple as it’s is a Taoist- Confucius Temple in which the only Buddhist component is the Hall Of Guanyin or known as the Goddess of Mercy…….. also it pays to donate some coinage as a token for the up keep, also that upkeep is that allows you burn incense..
One way of seeing how old the temple is through its design architectural construction, also how its constructed, in which this case of A-Ma Temple- Macau, orthough the inspirational design is Ming Dynasty based in which the early Qing Dynasty inspire adopted as you see the designs are translated into other temples of that era in Hong Kong, Cheung Chau to from the Canton Province extending all the way towards Nanking and Beijing where in the Ming Dynasty the designs are more elaborately detail in sense you can see that in time period of women clothing Chinese HanFu dress from that era also the men aswell……
