The government’s first-ever official plan for the protection and management of the UNESCO-listed Historic Centre of Macau, which was promulgated in the Official Gazette (BO) earlier this month, will take effect on June 1.
The plan lists 11 visual corridors, 19 scenic streets, as well as 24 areas and streets with special “urban fabric” that require the government’s protection.
The Historic Centre of Macau was inscribed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005.
According to the Cultural Heritage Protection Law, which came into force in March 2014, the local government is required to draw up its official plan for the protection and management of the Historic Centre of Macau in compliance with the UNESCO World Heritage Committee’s requirements.
The government carried out a public consultation in 2014 on the framework for the drafting of the protection and management plan, before launching another public consultation in 2018 proposing details of the plan.
The government has completed drawing up the final version of the protection and management plan, which was promulgated as an administration regulation in the Official Gazette on Monday last week.
Government-drafted administration regulations, aka by-laws, do not require the legislature’s approval.
According to the plan, which will take effect on June 1, the management of visual corridors aims to protect the Historic Centre of Macau’s visual connections between its main geographic high points and the sea, between historic buildings and the sea, and between different historic buildings.
The management of scenic streets, according to the plan, aims to ensure the characteristics and specific atmosphere of the streets and open-air public spaces covered by the Historic Centre of Macau.
The management of areas and streets with a special urban fabric aims to protect the characteristics of the layout of the Historic Centre of Macau’s urban space created by the lifestyle that integrates Chinese and Western cultures, according to the protection and management plan.
The plan also lays out details on how the four official categories of the cultural heritage sites in the Historic Centre of Macau, namely monuments, buildings of architectural interest, ensembles (such as building compounds or complexes), and sites should be protected.
A man takes photos from the Chapel of Our Lady of Penha on Saturday. One of the 11 visual corridors listed by the Historic Centre of Macau’s protection and management plan is one looking at the sea southeast from the Chapel of Our Lady of Penha and vice versa. – Photo: Tony Wong
