Handover Gifts Museum of Macao
The Handover Gifts Museum of Macao is situated next to the Macao Museum of Art on Avenida Xian Xing Hai (N.A.P.E.). The location of the Museum was opposite the site of the handover ceremony – the Garden Pavilion of the Macao Cultural Centre – on 20th December, 1999, when Macao was returned to China. The hall was dismantled after the ceremony and the area was transformed into part of the Macao Cultural Centre. Construction of the Handover Gifts Museum of Macao, designed by the architect Vicente Bravo (who also designed the Garden Pavilion), started in March 2003 and was completed in October 2004. The Museum was officially opened in December 2004.
Handover Gifts Exhibition
Macao, once called Hao Jing, was a subordinate of Xiangshan County in the Ming and Qing dynasties. In the mid-16th century, Portuguese travellers arrived from the West and initially used Macao as a place to dry their goods. After the Opium War, the Portuguese took the advantage of the weakened Qing government and gradually colonised the region. After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the Central Government strived to safeguard China’s territorial integrity and national unity. On 1st July, 1997, Hong Kong was handed back to China. Two years later, a few days before the turn of the millennium, Macao was reunited with its motherland.