THE SINO-PORTUGUESE ARCHITECTURE OF MACAU 

16 May

The Sino-Portuguese architecture of Macau

CONFERENCE

Speaker: Luís Durão

16.00-17.00

Floor 4

Free Entry

The Sino-Portuguese architectural symbiosis reflects a parallel inter-cultural process maturing over the approximately 450 years of mutual interchange between Portugal and China. This shared experience bears witness to a long process of mutual recognition and which has focused more on the shared characteristics than on the issues separating them.

The architectonic evolution naturally reflects a cultural progression and that in the case of Macau was translated into the development of the Macanese identity itself. In the field of architecture, this reached its peak throughout the period over the second half of the eighteenth century and throughout the 19th century and into the first quarter of the 20th century. This presentation sets out the course of this long process of maturing as well as defining the architectural characteristics resulting.

Luís António Guizado de Gouveia Durão is an architect with a PhD from the Faculty of Architecture, Universe of Oporto. He was the Regional Director of Urban Habitation and the Environment in the Azores and while at the Regional Directorate of Culture Affairs oversaw the restoration of Angra do Heroísmo and areas damaged by the 1980 earthquake. In Macau, he headed the Department of Cultural Heritage and carried out urban development and monumental restoration projects through to 1999. Currently, he lectures on architecture at the Manuel Teixeira Gomes Institute, Lusófona University, in Portimão.