Culture | Digital library about Macau launched

The China Observer has launched a website focusing on Portuguese literary works about Macau and other Asian destinations written between the 16th and 19th centuries.
Sponsored by the Macau Foundation, the platform “Fontes Macau-China” (“Sources Macau-China”) has made available the digitalized versions of many old books. The resources will be introduced gradually, with an intended total of 120,000 pages.
According to the China Observer, the website was made for “all the Macau population and international web users” and aspires to present Portuguese language descriptions “considered fundamental to the history of Macau and its role in the world, that was a pioneer one in the relations between East and West.”
The project also comprises of a book conservation aspect, since some of the works displayed are being digitalized for the first time and can hence “be safeguarded for future generations,” a China Observer statement said.
Fundação Macau, which donated MOP442,000 to finance the project, told Lusa that the new website “addresses specific themes and makes available precious data about the history of Macau, that can be used in the project ‘Macau Memories’ that the foundation is developing.”
The website (www.fontes- macau.observatoriodachina.org) is the result of a partnership between the UCCLA – União das Cidades Capitais de Língua Portuguesa (Union of the capital Portuguese speaking cities) and the National Library of Portugal. The website was launched today (Macau time) in a ceremony held at the National Library in Lisbon. MDT/Lusa