Location: Praça de Luís de Camões, Macao
Area: approximately 19,800m2
Transport: bus no. 8A, 17, 18, 18A, 19 and 26
Opening hours: 06h00—22h00
Area: approximately 19,800m2
Transport: bus no. 8A, 17, 18, 18A, 19 and 26
Opening hours: 06h00—22h00
The Camões Garden used to be the residence of the wealthy Portuguese merchant Lourenço Marques.
The entrance of the Garden is greeted by a flight of stairs leading to a fountain lying in the central with a 6 m tall bronze sculpture, “Embrace”, erected in its middle. It has been there since 1996 to commemorate the friendship between China and Portugal. The various walkways in the Garden are flanked by age-old trees with aerial roots hanging down like a screen of curtains. At the further end of the entrance is a staircase on the left and a stone stairway to the right that open the way to the different uphill paths.
The meandering and undulating paths merge and split in between the lush greenery and stacked rocks across the Garden. One of them leads to the Camões Grotto, the most interesting sight within the precinct that houses the bronze bust of the famous Portuguese poet Luís de Camões. Allegedly, he wrote part of his epic work, “The Lusiads”, in the Grotto. And as to commemorate this great poet, the later generation placed his bust in the Grotto for visitors to pay him respects and ponder on his past. The Grotto is made of three rocks, one lying horizontally on top of the other two, to give it a touch of natural simplicity.
Besides this main attraction, the paths are dotted with pavilions, stone benches, rockeries and narrow footways for visitors to take leisure in their thoughtful layout. There is a “Wong Ieng Kuan” Library at the rear end of the Garden which has incorporated natural elements, a towering tree and a huge rock, into its building structure.
The footpaths around the Library go round a pond and lead a grass lawn where the statue of the first Korean-born Catholic priest Andrew Kim Taegon stands. It was given to the Diocese of Macao in 1985 by the Korean Catholic Church. The priest had studied in a seminary in Macao during the 19th century before he laid down his life for his Catholic faith at the young age of 25. The sculptures of Andrew Kim Taegon and Luís de Camões have charmed the Garden with their piece of unique history.
