Description of the attraction
St. Paul's Cathedral in the 17th century was built by Christians expelled from Japan and Jesuit monks. At that time, this cathedral was the largest of all Christian churches in Asia. The ruins of this, at one time, the largest cathedral, became a monument to the history of the collision, connection and penetration into each other of such different and dissimilar cultures as eastern and western, during the period of Portugal's colonization of Asian countries. And today in Macau, these ruins are one of the main attractions.
This majestic temple with a pompous staircase and a noble facade is the best preserved of all other monuments dating back to the era of Catholicism in Asia. A remarkably beautiful and mesmerizingly grandiose panorama of the facade of St. Paul's Cathedral opens up for observation from the fortress.
In the middle of the 19th century, the cathedral, together with a college built in 1594 in the neighborhood, was destroyed by fire. Only the staircase leading to the wall with empty openings instead of windows and the southern facade remained intact, which are being systematically restored.
The previous appearance of the cathedral was not restored. The facade that survived the fire was decorated by the Italian master Carlo Spinola with exquisite sculptural compositions. For future generations, they have preserved both the miraculously survived crypt with tombs and the nave, which now serves as a museum telling about unfulfilled plans to recreate the entire cathedral with its rich history.
Initially, three entrances with columns led to the temple. On the temple itself were placed the image of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, on the third and fourth tiers, respectively. A gallery, painted with images of saints and angels, leads to the upper floor of the cathedral.
In accordance with the traditions of the architectural culture of that time, St. Paul's Cathedral was built of wood, then brightly and richly decorated. The carved stone for the facade was made by local and Japanese craftsmen. The city's national museum contains fragments of stone sculptures from the cathedral.
The ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral - a temple that is an architectural evidence of the penetration of Christianity into China, was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005.
