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| 2787 Macau - Capela de Nossa Senhora da Guia and Guia Lighthouse at the Guia Fortress. |
The Guia Fortress is a 17th-century colonial military fort, chapel, and lighthouse complex, located in the St. Lazarus Parish, in Macau Peninsula. The fort was constructed between 1622 and 1638, after an unsuccessful attempt by the Netherlands to capture colonial Portuguese Macau. Inside the fortress stands Guia Chapel, originally established by Clarist nuns, who resided at the site before establishing the Convent of St. Clare. Its elaborate frescoes depict representations of both western and Chinese themes, displaying motifs of religious and mythological inspiration that are a perfect example of Macao's multicultural dimension.
The Guia Lighthouse was constructed within the walls of the fortress between 1864 and 1865, the first western style lighthouse in east Asia or on the China coast. After only nine years of operation, it was damaged by a typhoon in 1874 and remained out of service until 1910. The lighthouse stands upon the highest point on Macau, Guia Hill, which stands at 91.4m tall, and has a light visible for some 20 miles in clear weather conditions. It is a round tapered concrete-clad stone tower with lantern and double gallery.
The Guia Fortress is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Centre of Macao, about which I wrote here.
About the stamps
The first stamp is actually an ATM label, issued on February 22, 2016 to mark the Year of the Monkey (Chinese Lunar Year).
The last stamp is also an ATM label, issued in 2015 to mark the Year of the Goat (Chinese Lunar Year).
The second stamp was issued on November 23, 2013 with the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Macao-European Union Agreement for Trade and Cooperation.
References
Guia Fortress - Wikipedia
Lighthouses of China: Macau - University of North Carolina official website
Sender: ArthurWu / wubin (postcrossing) MO-25126
Sent from Macau (Macau / China), on 19.09.2016
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