In order to celebrate the 15^th anniversary of the inscription of the “Historic Centre of Macao” on the World Heritage List, the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from its Portuguese acronym) will hold a series of activities in July. The event features a total of 28 activities in six series, including a thematic festival, the “World Heritage Open Day”, the “Heritage City Tours - Guided Tours and Illustration Workshop”, “Fun Sharing Cultural Heritage” lectures, a story-writing competition and a WeChat game. With this special series of activities, IC seeks to celebrate the anniversary with the public and encourage residents to experience the beauty of Macao’s World Heritage in their daily lives and to appreciate the city’s precious cultural treasures, thereby conveying the concept of “Appreciating Our World Heritage Together”.

Thematic Festival

On the occasion of the 15^th anniversary of the inscription of the Historic Centre of Macao on the World Heritage List, a thematic festival will be held at the “World Heritage Youth Education Base”, located in the Mandarin’s House, from 11 to 12 July. The Festival features a rich variety of special activities, such as game booths, family workshops, thematic exhibitions, sale of cultural and creative products, a lucky draw, as well as various enthralling performances and special photography spots, celebrating the 15^th anniversary with the public. During the activity period, free buses are available from Iao Hon Municipal Market and Taipa Central Park to the Mandarin’s House and those interested may also take public transportation to the site of the venue. To safeguard the public’s health, IC will deploy various anti-epidemic measures such as crowd control during the event.

Unique Experience on World Heritage Open Day

In the special activity “World Heritage Open Day”, five activities of public visits will be held at several World Heritage sites that are rarely open to the public, namely “Tea time at Sir Robert Ho Tung Library”, “Panoramic View of the Ruins of St. Paul’s”, “Treasure Hunting in the Mandarin’s House”, “Secret Magic Circle of the Senado Library” and “Ascent to the Guia Lighthouse”, allowing the public to appreciate the Historic Centre of Macao from different perspectives and to enjoy a unique experience at the World Heritage sites, such as enjoying a Portuguese-style tea set at Sir Robert Ho Tung Library, overlooking the Ruins of St. Paul’s from the roof terrace of the Colégio Mateus Ricci, joining a treasure hunt game on the second and third floors of the Mandarin’s House, which are rarely open to the public, visiting the inner hall and upper floor gallery of the Senado Library, climbing to the top of the Guia Lighthouse to enjoy an impressive view of Macao. Advance registration is required for some of the activities.

Heritage City Tours to Capture the Beauty of the Historic Centre

The “Heritage City Tours - Guided Tours and Illustration Workshop” features five elaborate itineraries. The city tours will be led by professional guides, who will take participants to explore different World Heritage buildings and tell the story of each building along the way. The activity also features illustrators who will teach the technique of creating a travel diary, so that participants can capture the wonderful moments of their tours and record everything in their unique travel diaries. The activity features two routes designed for families. Interested residents are required to register in advance.

The series of activities also includes a Story-Writing Competition “Memorable Moments of World Heritage”, “Fun Sharing Cultural Heritage” lectures in schools and districts, the “World Heritage Modeling Workshop”, and a WeChat Game – “I am a Cultural Heritage Expert” which enables participants to stand a chance to win great prizes with their knowledge of Cultural Heritage. Other special activities with free admission will also be held in July. To safeguard the health of participants, IC will deploy appropriate measures according to the anti-epidemic guidelines of the Health Bureau, such as strengthening cleaning and sanitisation at activity venues. All participants must wear masks, undergo body temperature checks, present a “Macao Health Code” of the day and follow crowd control measures on site. The activities may be adjusted based on the pandemic situation.

Online registration for the activities will be available through www.icm.gov.mo/eform/event from today (15 June) to 28 June. For enquiries, please contact Ms. Chong through telephone 8590 4382 or Ms. Wong through telephone 8590 4329 during office hours. The event “Activities in Celebration of the 15^th Anniversary of the Inscription of the Historic Centre of Macao on the World Heritage List” is organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau with the support of the Macao Government Tourism Office, the Kaiping Municipal People’s Government, Air Macau Company Limited and Bank of China (Macao Branch). For more information about the activities, please visit the official website at www.icm.gov.mo/mhd15.

List of “Activities in Celebration of the 15^th Anniversary of the Inscription of the “Historic Centre of Macao” on the World Heritage List”