Macau scenery( fast>~<)

Ruins of St. Paul&#39;s (also known as Sam Ba Sing Tzik)

大三巴牌坊（聖保祿教堂）

Address: Rua de Sao Paulo, Macau

地址: 澳門大三巴街

All that remains of the greatest of Macau&#39;s churches is its magnificent stone facade and grand staircase. The church was built in 1602 adjoining the Jesuit College of St. Paul&#39;s, the first Western college in the Far East where missionaries such as Matteo Ricci and Adam Schall studied Chinese before serving at the Ming Court in Beijing as astronomers and mathematicians. The church, made of taipa and wood, was brilliantly decorated and furnished, according to early travelers. The facade of carved stone was built in 1620-27 by Japanese Christian exiles and local craftsmen under the direction of Italian Jesuit Carlo Spinola.

After the expulsion of the Jesuits, the college was used as an army barracks and in 1835 a fire started in the kitchens and destroyed the college and the body of the church. The surviving facade rises in 4 colonnaded tiers, and is covered with carvings and statues which eloquently illustrate the early days of the Church in Asia. There are statues of the Virgin and saints, symbols of the Garden of Eden and the Crucifixion, angels and the devil, a Chinese dragon and a Japanese chrysanthemum, a Portuguese sailing ship and pious warnings inscribed in Chinese.

After restoration work, lasting from 1990 to 1995, the back side of the Ruins of St. Paul&#39;s was turned into a museum. The ruins are regarded as the symbol of Macau and now offer visitors a new site where they can view the remains of the former Church of the Mother of God, visit a Crypt where the relics of the Martyrs of Japan and Vietnam rest, and a museum of Sacred Art where there are exhibits of paintings, sculptures and liturgical objects from churches and monasteries in the City.

2008-05-25 21:12:50 補充：
中文譯文:

澳門著名名勝大三巴牌坊是昔日聖保祿教堂的前壁和台階遺蹟。教堂於1602年奠基，緊靠著當時遠東地區 的第一所西式大學－聖保祿學院。歷史上，一些著名的西方學者，如利瑪竇、湯若望等教士在前往北京明政府擔任欽天監前，都曾在此學院研習漢語。根據早期資料 記載，聖保祿教堂由花崗石和木頭建成，裝飾華麗莊嚴。教堂的雕刻前壁由日本基督徒和當地工匠在意大利耶穌會卡爾洛‧斯皮諾拉神父的指導下於1620－ 1627年間完成。 後來，耶穌會教士被驅逐，這所學院改建成了軍營。

2008-05-25 21:13:18 補充：
中文譯文:

1835年，廚房意外起火並迅速蔓延到整座建築物，燒毀了學院和教堂 的主體。今天，只能從倖存的前壁牌坊和四根廊柱上的雕刻和浮雕來緬懷過去這教堂在亞洲的輝煌。大三巴牌坊上的浮雕有聖母像、聖徒像、伊甸園的象徵圖、耶穌 受難像、天使與魔鬼、中國龍雕像、代表日本的菊花、葡萄牙帆船以及各式以中文雕成的天主教字句。

2008-05-25 21:13:36 補充：
中文譯文:

1990年至1995年間，澳葡政府在 昔日教堂的地點進行了修建工程，並在聖保祿教堂後面建成了一個博物館。大三巴牌坊一直被視為澳門的象徵，今天也是澳門重要的旅遊景點。旅客可以欣賞並緬懷 昔日的聖母教堂，以及入內參觀存放著一些日本和越南殉教者遺骨的墓室，和陳列了大量繪畫、雕塑、和宗教禮拜用品的天主教藝術博物館。