Nine sites waiting for heritage listing

The Moosa House was built before 1880

The public consultation of the second batch of the proposed immovable property classification started yesterday, as announced by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) during yesterday’s press conference.

The second batch includes nine sites, namely: the Patane Night Watch House (built around 1940); the Sin Fong Temple (built around 1827); the St. Paul’s College Archaeological Site (built in 1606); the number 6 building on Calçada do Gaio (built around 1929); the number 30 building on Estrada da Vitória (built around 1930); the Moosa House (built before 1880); the St. Michael the Archangel Cemetery (built in 1854); the Old Tarrafeiro Municipal Market (built in the middle of 19th century) and, the Feira do Carmo (built around 1886).

Eight of these sites are located in the Macau Peninsula with only the Feira do Carmo situated in Taipa.

The Macau SAR government currently owns six of these properties, while the remaining three are privately owned.

For each batch of classification of immovable properties, the IC normally chooses around ten properties.

Originally, the second batch of the proposed immovable properties had 13 in total. However, due to a lack of sufficient documents, the IC decided to only put nine properties up for public consultation in order not to delay their classification progress.

Before the cultural authority placed these nine properties into the classification, the owners of the three private properties were consulted, according to the acting director of the IC, Leong Wai Man.

The public consultation started yesterday and will last until January 5. After the completion of the public consultation, the IC will have 180 days to prepare the final reports of the consultation.

The entire classification procedure will be completed within 12 months (October 30 of 2019), and the results will be announced soon after.

In total, Macau currently has 137 classified immovable properties, including monuments, buildings of architectural interest, ensembles, and sites.

Buffer areas have been provided for four of the above-mentioned nine properties, according to a dispatch published yesterday in the Official Gazette.

The four buildings are Sin Fong Temple, number 6 building on Calçada do Gaio, St. Michael the Archangel Cemetery, and Feira do Carmo.

According to Macau’s law, IC should establish a buffer area for immovable properties waiting to be classified if there is a need to protect the properties’ urban structure and view.

The buffer area serves as a temporary control over the surrounding spaces and the environmental condition nearby, therefore preventing great negative changes in the environment between the properties and their surroundings.