DAY 54m
SANTO ANTÓNIO ~ Ruins of St. Paul
(Macau, CHN)
Tuesday August 29th, 2017
TODAYS MILEAGE – 19 miles or 31 kilometres
TRIP MILEAGE – 37,086 miles or 59,684 kilometres
Jesuits built the "Ruínas da Antiga Catedral de São Paulo" between 1602 and 1640 and was one of the largest Catholic churches in Asia at the time.
The church was destroyed by a fire, during a typhoon on January 26th 1835 and now consist of the southern stone façade - intricately carved between 1620 and 1627, by Japanese Christians in exile from their homeland.
Resisting calls for the leaning structure to be demolished, the ruins were excavated between from 1990 to 1995 in which the crypt and the foundations were uncovered, revealing the architectural plan of the building. Numerous religious artefacts were also found together with the relics of the Chinese Christian martyrs and the monastic clergy, including the founder of the Jesuit college in Macau, Father Alessandro Valignano.
The ruins were restored by the Macanese government into a museum, and the façade is now buttressed with concrete and steel in a way which preserves its aesthetic integrity.
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