Historic Sites
Ruins of St. Paul's
The most famous sight in Macau. The original church was probably
designed by an Italian Jesuit in the early 17th century and
it was built with the assistance of Japanese Christian artisans
who had fled from feudal persecution in Nagasaki. In 1835,
the church and its adjacent college caught fire and burned
to the ground leaving only the facade, the staircase and a
few portions of the walls.
In 1996 a religious museum was opened in the excavated crypt
of the church. It contains the tomb of the Jesuit missionary
Valignano, bones of Japanese and Vietnamese martyrs, a model
of the original church and some 17th century works of religious
art.
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