Ruins of the old city wall

The ruins of the old city wall refer to a loess wall behind the dashanba and Nezha temple, which is a part of the surviving old city wall of Macao.

Ruins of the old city wall

The ruins of the old city wall (hereinafter referred to as the old city wall) refer to a loess wall behind the dashanba and Nezha temples. It is a surviving part of the old city wall of Macao. The old city wall was an important part of Macao's military defense.

Historical evolution

The old city wall was built in the period when Macao was occupied by Portugal. It can be traced back to 1569 (the third year of Longqing in Ming Dynasty).

In 1604, because the Chinese government did not allow them to build walls privately, they were demolished by the Ming government.

In 1617, Australian and Portuguese officials bribed Chinese officials to build the city wall again without interference.

In 1625, under the strong interference of Ming government officials, the northern wall was demolished, but the Portuguese continued to build the wall despite the opposition of Ming government.

In 1632, in order to resist the invasion of the Netherlands, the Australian and Portuguese government took this as an excuse, ignored the opposition of the Ming government, and rebuilt the northern wall and fort of Macao. In the past, the Portuguese built city walls in the north, East and south of the Macao Peninsula, and built forts in the fortress, making Macao a fortress for close guard. The existing part of the old city wall site is one of the parts rebuilt in 1632.

In 2005, as a part of Macao's historical city, it was listed in the world cultural heritage list.

Documentation

According to Macao geography, the old city wall is described as follows: "the wall passes from the west side of today's Dongwangyang Mountain Observatory, down the mountain, through shuikengwei alley, up the big fort, connecting the big fort city, then down the mountain again, connecting the ciyouyuan, around the white dove garden in the north, through the west of dashanbawei camp, through Tianjie in Nantong, through chuangmen street, across the Great Wall, northeast back of MAGE temple, around the West Wangyang mountain city to the seaside This shows that the Portuguese occupied only the south of sanbamen city at that time, and the boundary of the wall can still be found intermittently

Extant sites

The site of the old city wall is located in the san'andonitang District of Macao Peninsula, behind the dashanba and Nezha temple. The old signboard of "Liangyong Xinxiang village" on the old city wall.

Condition of the city wall

The existing ruins of the old city wall are 18.5 meters long, 5.6 meters high and 1.08 meters wide, and the brick hole in the wall is 1.8 meters wide and 2.8 meters high. The wall is made of sand mud, fine stone, oyster shell powder and other materials and compacted layer by layer. There is a round arched gate in the old city wall, behind which are dwellings. At the end of the old city wall site is an old signboard of "Liangyong Xinxiang village".

The old city wall is located on the left side of St. Paul's Church site, adjacent to Nezha temple. It is made of rammed earth, which is mainly made of sand, fine stone, straw and oyster shell powder.

strategic role

From the city map of Macao in 1632, we can see that except for the inner harbor in the west, the city walls were built in the north, East and south of the city, and the fort was built in the fortress, which made the city of Macao a castle with strict military defense. The existing ruins of the old city wall are exactly the parts built at that time.

In fact, the city wall built at that time was not only an important military project, but also an important urban construction project. For a long time, the Portuguese, for their own safety, lived in Macao only within the city walls. "Now, not only the rammed earth wall is gone, but also the wall in my heart."

Address: the left side of Da Sanba memorial archway in Macao (behind Nezha Temple)

Longitude: 113.54052736442

Latitude: 22.197681582903

Tel. + 853-83996699

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Chinese PinYin : Jiu Cheng Qiang Yi Zhi