Friday, March 23, 2007

Another Macau photo-essay

A few months back, I selected seven photographs that I took in Macau last April to show to this blog's visitors. Earlier today, after going through the collection of photos that I took during my most recent visit to that which, like Hong Kong, is now a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, I decided -- and hope you'll agree ;) -- that there are seven more photographs that look to be worthy of your interest.

As was the case before, I trust that the selected images will confirm that Macau is one of those parts of the world that's blessed with a rich architectural heritage. At the same time, what really should stand out this time around is the interesting blend of Eastern and Western cultural components that are to be found there, and sometimes within a single photograph and/or piece of material culture too! :)


An example of West meets East in Macau:
The Moorish Barracks
were designed by an Italian architect
and served as the accomodations of a military regiment from Goa


Example number two:
Only in Macau are the names of buildings
marked out in Chinese and Portuguese! :b

Macau additionally is where stained glass windows
are to be found in a former residence
of a prominent 19th century Chinese businessman
(in this case, the
Lou Kau Mansion)

...as well as in the former Portuguese enclave's
many Roman Catholic churches (and one cathedral)

The physically imposing Our Lady of Penha Church
sits prominently atop Penha Hill
over
on the southern end of the Macau Peninsula


Further down the southern tip of the Macau Peninsula
lies the picturesque A-Ma Temple complex
from whose interior space this shot was taken

Statuette of the Taoist goddess A Ma
for which Macau itself
as well as its oldest place of worship is named

2 comments:

steve said...

Great photos as always. I'm not a resident of Hong Kong or Macau, so I don't know if it's true from their perspective, but at least here in the West, I always get the impression of Macau being overshadowed by the much more 'popular' Hong Kong despite having such an unique cultural identity.

YTSL said...

Hi Munin --

Thank you for your kind words about my photos! :)

And yes, for a time, Macau was overshadowed by Hong Kong and when I first visited back in 2001, felt like a backwater, especially relative to bustling Hong Kong.

However, it's boomed in recent years. And not only has Macau become "the Asian Las Vegas" as was heralded in the Observer piece I've linked below but it actually, since late 2006, has overtaken Las Vegas in gambling revenues as was reported in the article in the Hindu which I also have linked below.

http://travel.guardian.co.uk/article/2007/jan/07/macau.china.escape

http://www.hindu.com/2007/03/03/stories/2007030303611100.htm