A Museum tour around Macau
Macau never fails to impress tourists with its smal l territory of only 23 square kilometres. The tiny city nevertheless has scored many firsts in the world, such as its population density, number of private cars, nume rous churches and booming gambling industry. On top of all these, Macau has an eclectic variety of more than 2 0 finely designed museums and memorial halls, such as t he Macau Museum, Maritime Museum, Grand Prix Museum, Sa cred Art Museum (澳门艺术博物馆), Wine Museum, Post Office Mus eum, House Museum (住宅博物馆), as well as the Memorial Hous e of Dr Sun Yat-sen and Lin Zexu Museum. These museums offer a mix of information and fun to visitors while al lowing them to know from different perspectives more ab out this famous historical city where oriental and occi dental cultures have clashed and matched for four centu ries.
The Macau Museum 澳门博物馆
Located at the scenic spot Monte Fort, the Macau Mu seum gives visitors a full view of the history of the e nclave. It was created into the fort, two basement leve ls of which were excavated and a top floor was added at the platform level. The total area is over 3,000 square metres. The cannon and fort perimeter walls have been r estored to form part of the relics in the outdoor secti on. The indoor exhibition space on Level 1 houses displ ays on ancient Chinese and European civilizations compr ising literature, philosophy, religious beliefs, archit ecture, ships and trade, etc. The exhibits also feature the primitive culture in the Macau region and the local lifestyles in those eras. Level 2 presents scenes of ol d Macau with Chinese and Portuguese residences, fishing villages and street vendors by deploying modern audio-v isual technology.
The Lin Zexu Museum 澳门林则徐纪念馆
In 1839, Lin Zexu went to Macau with the governor o f Guangdong and Guangxi provinces on an inspection tour as an imperial commissioner. On September 3, he met wit h Portuguese officials at the Lin Fong Temple to secure their cooperation on the ban on opium trade and local d efence, thereby staving off British military expansion into the enclave.
The Lin Zexu Museum, a memorial hall of this nation al hero, was built at the former site of the Lin Fong T emple in Areia Preta. It presents the historical scene of Lin's inspection tour through realia, waxworks and p ictures.
The Wine Museum 葡萄酒博物馆
The Wine Museum near the Macau — Hong Kong Pier is a space of cultural, recreational and educational funct ions. The exhibition hall consists of three areas: the history of viniculture, the cellar, and the wine displa ys. Visitors can learn a lot from the texts, maps, phot os, utensils, simulated cellars, representations of the various stages of viniculture, and exhibits of vintage and new wines.
The 1,4000 m2 museum displays an allotment of more than 1,050 wine brands, including 700 commercial wines and 300 collection wines. The oldest one is an 1815 Mad eira Wine on display among others in the cellar section . Visitors may conclude their tour with wine tasting wh ich is free of charge.
Next to the Wine Museum, the Grand Prix Museum show cases the history of the world-famous annaul Macau Gran d Prix over the past four decades through a great numbe r of motor racing photos and descriptions in the Chines e, English and Portuguese languages.
The museum presents a rich collection of Formula 3 racing cars and motorcycles that participated in the pa st races along with memorabilia related to the events. Among the exhibits are the models of the supporting fac ilities used in the racing events such as first aid and refuelling stations. The 40-seat mini-theatre, a recent addition to the museum, will make your visit even more enjoyable with film clips on highlights of the Macau Gr and Prix and races elsewhere in the world.
The Maritime Museum 海事博物馆
A street away from the A-Ma Temple, the white Marit ime Museum building looks like a sailboat moored at the inner harbour of the enclave.
The museum not only focuses on Macau but also syste matically covers the Chinese and Portuguese maritime hi story. The exhibition consists of historical relics, mo dels and representations of nautical equipment, naval w eaponry and sea trade. There is also a gallery of aquar iums that vividly reflect the under-water world.
by Zhen Lin
