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It is a very important festival for the local Catholic community, and the three-day holy festival, in addition to the celebration Mass held in the churches of various parishes in Macao, but also some traditional ceremonies, which are rare in neighboring areas, making Easter Macao particularly wonderful.
If Easter is going to be a church connection tour, you must first choose a starting point. The editor recommends the Guia Church overlooking Macao, the tallest church on the Macao Peninsula ----.
The church, also known as the Episcopal Hill Church, the Church of Our Lady of the Sea Cliffs, and the Church of Beina, was built in 1622. Located on the summit of Guia Hill, one of the highest points on the Macau Peninsula, this Catholic temple is the largest neo-Gothic church in Macau and a designated heritage building in Macau.
Built 400 years ago, related to a promise?
It is said that in 1620, a group of Portuguese navigators on the Sino-Japanese route encountered interception by a Dutch fleet at sea and engaged the Dutch fleet without casualties, and at that time a crew member promised that if they could complete the voyage safely, they would build a church for Our Lady of France upon their return to Macau.
Romanesque style inside and outside the sanctuary
The current church adopts the neo-gothic style (Neo-Gothic), which was popular in France and England in the 18th and 19th centuries. Mainly developed in countries derived from "Gothic culture", through retro style, seek the "national identity" of these countries. The church has a rectangular plan and an entrance facing southeast, and the interior of the church is simple, with a main altar, two side altars and a pulpit.
The façade of the church is also not typical of Gothic, but biased towards the Romanesque style, including H-shaped buttresses, round windows, and cascading Roman arched entrances. The façade is topped by a giant statue of Our Lady of France holding the Holy Child.
From the church, you can overlook Nam Van Lake, Sai Wan Lake, the Three Macao and Taipai Bridge and the Inner Harbour.
The icon guards the entry and exit of the ship
In the platform square in front of the church stands the marble statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, completed in 1909. In the past, Macau had not yet been reclaimed on a large scale, and the statue of Our Lady faced the sea of Nam Van, guarding ships entering and leaving the port.
Descend the stone steps to the cave of Our Lady of Lourdes. The cave was built in 1828 when Our Lady appeared in Lourdes, France.
Under the east side of the church, a stone cross is also erected, and on both sides of the path leading to the cross, there are Chinese-style lions, which looks a bit of a combination of Chinese and Western.
Although Macau still has several neo-Gothic churches from the 19th and 20th centuries, Guia Church is the most iconic in terms of scale and monumentality.