A small stone fell from the façade of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Ruins of St. Paul’s during heavy rainfall on June 12, and the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) said in a statement yesterday that “for the time being” it believes that the incident was caused by lightning that struck the second tier of the iconostasis niche on the top of the façade of the monument, pointing that the stone was “probably” repair material used when the niche was restored years ago.
An iconostasis is a wall of icons.
The statement said that “after checking the façade with a drone, collecting data on the surrounding environment and conducting a close-up and detailed inspection of the frontage in conjunction with the Fire Services Bureau (CB), as well as combining data obtained from the Macau World Heritage Monitoring Centre, the area’s CCTV cameras and historical records, for the time being the incident was believed to have been caused by lightning striking the second tier of the iconostasis inside the niches on top of the façade with its side flash, which was a rare occurrence and the first time it had occurred according to the records kept by the Cultural Affairs Bureau.” The bureau added that the incident neither affected the structure of the Ruins of St Paul’s nor did it cause any damage to the bronze statues in the niches.
According to the statement, the Cultural Affairs Bureau has meanwhile arranged for the restoration and cleaning of the niches and bronze statues, as well as a comprehensive and detailed inspection of the façade while, at the same time, continuously working with professional heritage conservation entities, such as the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage, to explore options to deal with lightning, including the feasibility of installing a lightning protection system on the Ruins of St. Paul’s, in line with the principle of heritage preservation, with a view to minimising the possible impact of inclement weather on cultural heritage buildings.
The Catholic Church of St. Paul, aka Mater Dei (“Mother of God”), built in 1637-40, was the first Western-style higher education institution in China. A fire in 1835 destroyed most of St Paul’s College and the Church of the Mother of God, leaving only the church’s façade, foundations and stone steps intact. It was listed by Paris-based UNESCO as a World Heritage site in 2005.
This undated handout photo provided by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) last night shows a Fire Services Bureau (CB) officer and an IC official carrying out a detailed inspection of the façade of the Ruins of St Paul’s.
