The A-Má Temple is a

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

to the Chinese sea-goddess

Mazu Mazu or Matsu is a sea goddess in Chinese folk religion, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. She is also known by several other names and titles. Mazu is the deified form of Lin Moniang (), a shamaness from Fujian who is said to ...

located in São Lourenço,

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Built in 1488, the temple is one of the oldest in Macau and thought to be the settlement's namesake.

History

The name ''Macau'' was thought to be derived from the name of the temple. See

Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...

;

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

. It is said that when the Portuguese sailors landed at the coast just outside the temple and asked the name of the place, the natives replied ''A-maa-gok'' (

;

) or ''Maa-gok'' (

). The Portuguese then named the peninsula with various forms over the centuries such as "Amacão", "Ama Cuão", "amaquan", "Amacao", "Amacuão", "Amaquão", "Amangão", "Amagão", "Amaquam", then the initial ⟨A⟩ was later elided in Portuguese likely due to misconstruing with resulting into the following forms, "Macão", "Macao", "Macau", "Maquão", "Maçhoam", "Machoam". The temple was well described in ancient Chinese texts as well as represented in paintings, related to Macao. It is also one of the first scenes photographed in Macao. In 2005, the temple became one of the designated sites of the Historic Centre of Macau, a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Architecture

The temple consists of six main parts: Gate Pavilion, the Memorial Arch, the Prayer Hall, the Hall of Benevolence (the oldest part of the temple), the Hall of Guanyin, Zhengjiao Chanlin - Buddhist Pavilion.

Gallery

File:Facade of the great temple at Macao.jpg, A 19th-century painting of the facade of A-Ma Temple by English architect and artist

Thomas Allom Thomas Allom (13 March 1804 – 21 October 1872) was an English architect, artist, and topographical view, topographical illustrator. He was a founding member of what became the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He designed many bui ...

File:A-Ma Temple (1386860279).jpg, Main entrance of A-Ma Temple File:A Ma Historic Marker.JPG, World Heritage marker The Prayer Hall (A-Ma Temple).jpg, Prayer Hall File:A-Ma Temple, Macau - panoramio (8).jpg, Hall of Benevolence File:Templo de A-Má, Macao, 2013-08-08, DD 01.jpg, Zhengjiao Chanlin Buddhist Temple

References

Buildings and structures completed in 1488 Religious buildings and structures completed in the 1480s Historic Centre of Macau Macau Peninsula Buddhist temples in Macau Landmarks in Macau Mazu temples 1488 establishments in Asia 15th-century establishments in China 15th-century Buddhist temples Classified immovable properties {{PRChina-Buddhist-temple-stub

History

Architecture

Gallery

See also

References