The Senado Square (Largo do Senado) is an area in the centre of the city of Macau, enclosed by the buildings of the Leal Senado (the seat of government during the Portuguese domination), the General Post Office, and St. Dominic's Church (in which is a museum of paintings, sculptures and liturgical ornaments that illustrate the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Asia). The square was paved in the early 1990s by Portuguese craftsmans (calceteiros) with a wave-patterned mosaic of coloured stones, in the famous traditional Portuguese style.
The square is so named because since Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) it has been in front of the Leal Senado Building. During the Portuguese era, the authorities used to review here the troops on their inaugurations. In 1940, in square was a statue of Vicente Nicolau de Mesquita, a Portuguese military (but Macau native) who, because of its action during the Baishaling Incident (1849), when the Chinese army tried, unsuccessfully, to occupy the city, was received as a national hero by the portughese population. The statue has been destroyed by Chinese and replaced by a fountain, as can be see in the picture.
The main road of Macau's historic centre, Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro (also commonly known as San Man Lo) passes through the square, where are also shopping centers and traditional Chinese restaurants. Firework displays, lion and dragon dances are usually held on special days such as the Chinese Spring Festival and Christmas. The Senado Square is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Centre of Macao, about which I wrote here.
About the stamps
The first "stamp" is an ATM label World Heritage edition 2009 about which I wrote here.
The second is part of a set based on the theme World Heritage - St. Augustine's Square, issued on July 15, 2010 to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of The Historic Centre of Macao inscribed on the UNESCO's prestigious World Cultural Heritage List. The 4 stamps are:
• Teatro Dom Pedro V (Dom Pedro V Theatre) (1.5 MOP)
• Biblioteca Sir Robert Ho Tung (Sir Robert Ho Tung Library) (2.5 MOP)
• Igreja de Santo Agostinho (St. Augustine's Church) (3.5 MOP) - It's on the postcard 0277
• Seminário e Igreja de São José (St. Joseph's Seminary and Church) (4.0 MOP)
References
Senado Square - Wikipedia
Senado Square - Travel China Guide
Vicente Nicolau de Mesquita - Wikipedia
Sender: Kuan Long Lam (direct swap)
Sent from Macau (Macau / China), on 18.05.2012
Photo: Wong Wai Hong
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