Museum sights in Macau
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Taipa House Museum
The most beautiful sight on Taipa is this unusual museum, formed by five lime-green villas. The villas were summer residences built in 1921 by wealthy Macanese. Three hold permanent exhibitions, while the other two are used for receptions and special exhibitions. The House of the Regions of Portugal (Casa das Regiões de Portugal) has costumes and examines traditional Portugal. The House of the Islands (Casa das Ilhas) looks at the history of Taipa and Coloane, with displays devoted to the islands’ traditional industries: fishing and the manufacture of oyster sauce, shrimp paste and fireworks. The last is the Macanese House (Casa Macanese), a residence in local style; i…
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Macau Museum
To interactively grab the essence of the history of Macau, head to this excellent museum housed in the Monte Fort. On the first level, the Genesis of Macau exhibit takes you through the early history of the territory, with parallel developments in the East and the West compared and contrasted. The highlight here is the elaborate section devoted to the territory’s religions. On the second level (Popular Arts & Traditions of Macau), you’ll see and hear everything from a re-created firecracker factory and a chá gordo (fat tea) of 20 dishes enjoyed on a Sunday, to the recorded cries of street vendors selling items such as brooms and scrap metal. Do not miss the recording…
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IACM Gallery
Facing Largo do Senado to the west is Macau’s most important historical building, the 18th-century ‘Loyal Senate’, which now houses the Instituto para os Assuntos Cívicos e Municipais (IACM; Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau). It is so named because the body sitting here refused to recognise Spain’s sovereignty during the 60 years that it occupied Portugal. In 1654, a dozen years after Portuguese sovereignty was re-established, King João IV ordered a heraldic inscription to be placed inside the senate’s entrance hall, and this can still be seen today. To the right of the entrance hall is the IACM Gallery, which features changing exhibits. On the 1st floor is …
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Senate Library
Facing Largo do Senado to the west is Macau’s most important historical building, the 18th-century ‘Loyal Senate’, which now houses the Instituto para os Assuntos Cívicos e Municipais (IACM; Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau). It is so named because the body sitting here refused to recognise Spain’s sovereignty during the 60 years that it occupied Portugal. In 1654, a dozen years after Portuguese sovereignty was re-established, King João IV ordered a heraldic inscription to be placed inside the senate’s entrance hall, and this can still be seen today. To the right of the entrance hall is the IACM Gallery, which features changing exhibits. On the 1st floor is …
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Museum of Sacred Art & Crypt
This small museum behind the ruins of the Church of St Paul contains polychrome carved wooden statues, silver chalices, monstrances and oil paintings, including a copy of a 17th-century painting depicting the martyrdom of 26 Japanese Christians by crucifixion at Nagasaki in 1597. The adjoining crypt contains the remains of the martyrs, as well as those of Vietnamese and other Japanese Christians killed in the 17th century. Also here is the recently unearthed tomb of Alessandro Valignano, the Jesuit who founded the College of the Mother of God and is credited with establishing Christianity in Japan.
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Museum of the Holy House of Mercy
In the heart of Largo do Senado is the oldest social institution in Macau, established in 1569, which served as a home to orphans and prostitutes in the 18th century. Today it’s a museum containing items related to the House, including religious artefacts; Chinese, Japanese and European porcelain; the skull of its founder and Macau’s first bishop, Dom Belchior Carneiro; and a portrait of Martha Merop, an orphan who became a tycoon and a patron of the House. The restaurant in the basement serves very affordable and decent meals during lunch time.
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Museum of Nature & Agriculture
At the end of Cotai, this 20-hectare Seac Pai Van Park, built in the wooded hills on the western side of the island, has somewhat unkempt gardens sprouting species of plants and trees from around the world, a children’s zoo, a lake with swans and other waterfowl, and a walk-through aviary, which contains rare birds. The Museum of Nature & Agriculture has traditional farming equipment, dioramas of Coloane’s ecosystem and displays cataloguing a wide range of the island’s fauna and flora.
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Lin Zexu Memorial Hall
Once Taoist but now dedicated to Kun Iam, the Lin Fung Temple (built in 1592) was where people from Guangdong province would stay when they visited Macau, including Lin Zexu, the commissioner charged with stamping out the opium trade, who stayed here in September 1839. The Lin Zexu Memorial Hall, with its old photographs, a model of a Chinese war junk and opium-smoking paraphernalia, recalls his visit.
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Museum of Taipa & Coloane History
This museum is built on the remnants of the former Island Municipal Council and tries to be a mini–Macau Museum, although the collections are not as good as those on Monte Fort. There’s a display of excavated relics and other artefacts on the 1st floor that represent the earlier cultural history of Taipa and Coloane, while the 2nd floor contains religious objects, handicrafts and architectural models.
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Pawnshop Museum
This museum is housed in the former pawnshop built in 1917, with the fortresslike eight-storey granite tower and slotted windows, where goods were stored on racks or in safes. Sharing the same building is the Cultural Club, which claims to look at various aspects of everyday life in Macau but is little more than a souvenir shop.
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Guia Hill Air Raid Shelter
Guia Fort atop the highest point on the peninsula was built in 1638 to defend the border with China. The 52m-long Guia Hill Air Raid Shelter, an old military installation, was constructed in 1931 and was off-limits until 1962. Photos of the history of the shelter and an electricity generator used during WWII are on display.
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Macau Wine Museum
This is probably the only museum in Macau where beverages are allowed. More than 1300 types of wines on display are available for tasting, which is included in the entry fee. There is also a rundown of Portugal’s various wine regions, but the display of wine racks, barrels, presses and tools is rather bland.
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Macau Security Forces Museum
Housed in the 17th-century St Francis Barracks (Quartéis de São Francisco), this museum has two rooms of exhibits relating to the police and their work. The building is set in the lovely St Francis Garden (Jardim de São Francisco).
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Treasury of Sacred Art
Northeast of Largo do Senado, the 17th-century baroque Church of St Dominic is a replacement of a chapel built in the 1590s. Today it contains the Treasury of Sacred Art, an Aladdin’s cave of ecclesiastical art and liturgical objects exhibited on three floors.
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Maritime Museum
Opposite the A-Ma Temple, the Maritime Museum has interesting boats and artefacts from Macau’s seafaring past, a mock-up of a Hakka fishing village and displays of the long, narrow boats that are raced during the Dragon Boat Festival in June.
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Sound of the Century Museum
From antique phonographs to tournaphones and echophones dating back to as early as 1882, the private collections of the owner of Tai Peng Electronics will definitely wow you, no matter if you are a phonograph enthusiast or not. Prior appointment is required.
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Handover of Macau Gifts Museum
Next to the Macau Cultural Centre is this major attraction to visitors from the mainland. It displays (kitschy) art pieces and handicrafts presented by China’s various provinces to Macau to mark the return of Chinese sovereignty in 1999.
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Grand Prix Museum
Cars from the Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix, including the bright-red Triumph TR2 driven by Eduardo de Carvalho that won the first Grand Prix in 1954, are on display, while simulators let you test your racing skills.
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Fire Services Museum
Housed in the former HQ of the Macau fire brigade, the museum holds a small but interesting collection of old fire trucks from the 1940s and ‘50s, a manual pump from 1877, and lots of helmets and boots.
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