Ruins of St. Paul's — ruins
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Ruins of St. Paul's

  • 2 min read
  • 22.197° N 113.541° E
  • UNESCO World Heritage

Interesting facts

  • Apart from its granite front, the church was built largely of rammed earth and timber, which is why the fire of 1835 left only the façade standing.
  • The façade was designed under the guidance of the Italian Jesuit Carlo Spinola and carved by exiled Japanese Christians working with local craftsmen.
  • The stone front measures roughly 23 metres wide and 25.5 metres high, rising in five tiers to a triangular pediment.
  • The tiers were conceived as stages of the believer's ascent to Paradise, with the pediment at the top standing for the Holy Trinity.
  • Among the carvings are a Portuguese sailing ship, Japanese chrysanthemums and bronze statues of four Jesuit saints, including Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier.
  • A Latin inscription at the base of the façade dedicates the church to the Virgin Mary in the year 1602.
  • The adjoining College of Saint Paul, founded in 1594, is regarded as the first Western-style university in East Asia, teaching theology, astronomy, mathematics and Chinese.
  • The college served as a training base for Jesuits bound for China, among them the astronomer Johann Adam Schall von Bell.
  • The Jesuits were expelled in 1762 during the suppression of their order, more than seven decades before the fire destroyed the complex.
  • The 1835 fire began in the college kitchens and within a few hours had consumed both the college and the church.

Why it is worth it

A stone façade stands alone at the top of a broad staircase in the old centre of Macau. It is all that remains of the Church of Mater Dei, built by the Jesuits between 1602 and 1640 and in its day one of the largest Catholic churches in Asia, together with the College of Saint Paul beside it. A fire during a typhoon on 26 January 1835 destroyed everything else, and the front wall, like a stage set with nothing behind it, became one of the best-known landmarks of the city. In 2010 Portugal named it one of the Seven Wonders of Portuguese Origin in the World.

The façade is shaped like a giant altarpiece in stone and devoted to the Assumption of the Virgin. What makes it extraordinary is the way Europe and Asia meet on its surface. Japanese Christian craftsmen, driven out of Japan after Toyotomi Hideyoshi banned Christianity in 1587, are thought to have worked on it, and among its carvings appear images drawn from Asian traditions: the Virgin standing on a seven-headed hydra, labelled in Chinese characters as the Holy Mother treading on the dragon's heads, and six Chinese guardian lions at the base.

For years the leaning wall was in danger, and there were calls to pull it down. Instead, between 1990 and 1995 the site was excavated, uncovering the crypt and foundations and revealing the church's plan, along with religious objects and relics, including those of Alessandro Valignano, founder of the Jesuit college. The façade was then braced from behind with concrete and steel, discreetly enough to leave its appearance intact. Visitors can no longer climb to the top, but behind the wall a small crypt and museum display religious art and the bones of persecuted Japanese Christians.

The Fortaleza do Monte, the old fort, looks down on the ruins. The ruins have been part of the Historic Centre of Macao, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, since 2005. The façade stands in the open.

Getting there

The ruins are in Santo António parish in the historic centre of the Macau peninsula, about a 10-minute walk from Senado Square through pedestrian streets lined with shops and food stalls, finishing with the 68 steps up to the façade. Macau International Airport (MFM) is about 7.5 km away.

On these lists

The Most Beautiful Places in the People's Republic of China 105The Most Beautiful UNESCO-Listed Ruins 15The Most Beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the People's Republic of China 25The Most Beautiful Ruins 36The Most Beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Sites 557

From the encyclopaedia

The Ruins of Saint Paul's are the remnants of a 17th-century Catholic religious complex in Santo António, Macau. They include what was originally St. Paul's College and the Church of St. Paul, also known as "Mater Dei", a 17th-century Portuguese church dedicated to Saint Paul the Apostle. Today, the ruins are one of Macau's best-known landmarks and were named one of the Seven Wonders of Portuguese Origin in the World by the Portuguese government in 2010. In 2005, they were officially listed as part of the Historic Centre of Macau, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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22.19747, 113.54086per Wikidata