Cultural Heritage Council Vice President and Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) President Leong Wai Man said yesterday that the bureau will pay for the restoration of three heritage structures, namely the Official Residence of the Consul-General of Portugal in Macau and Hong Kong (the former Bela Vista Hotel on Penha Hill), the old wall of the Iec Long Firecracker Factory and Calçada do Amparo near St Paul’s Ruins, costing an estimated 1.65 million patacas.
Calçada is the Portuguese word for “steep lane”.
Leong made the remarks during a press conference after a regular closed-door meeting of the government-appointed Cultural Heritage Council at the Macau Cultural Centre in Nape. Yesterday’s meeting was addressed by the Cultural Heritage Council President and Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U and also attended by newly-appointed members.
According to Leong, the façade of the Official Residence of the Consul General of Portugal in Macau and Hong Kong has suffered various degrees of damage to its windows and doors, water leakage from the roof, and peeling and cracking of the brickwork on the surrounding walls, and the cost of restoration is estimated at 1.2 million patacas.
The building is believed to have been constructed around 1870 and was previously used as a hotel, school, a refugee camp for people from Hong Kong, and a hospital for British soldiers. However, it was eventually re-used as a hotel sometime before the 1960s until March 29, 1999 to become the official residence of Portugal’s consul-general in Macau.
Cultural Heritage Department Chief Choi Kin Long said the gatehouse adjacent to Calçada do Amparo has been affected by spalling plaster, loosening of the wall due to parasitic plants, falling wooden frames and water seepage from the tile roof. The restoration is estimated to cost 350,000 patacas, Choi said.
Choi also underlined that the old outer wall of the erstwhile Iec Long (益隆) Firecracker Factory, consisting of a mixture of stone, rammed earth and brick, will be restored by using the original types of raw materials, at an estimated cost of 100,000 patacas.
“Iec Long” means “beneficial prosperity”. Macau was once a world-famous firecracker production centre.
The government-appointed Cultural Heritage Committee holds a regular closed-door meeting yesterday at the Macau Cultural Centre in Nape. – Photo by GCS
