In the 1920s, Macau was still two cities al though there was already firmly in place the myth of a Western city transplanted to the Far East, of people uprooted from their homelands, of traders in merchandise and exotic dreams--a meeting point where cultures could fuse.
The Christian city and the Chinese city evoking colonial atmospheres, the corrupted memory of a far-off Europe and the constant presence of China during a period of political upheaval and shifts in attitudes and aspirations.
The following album is simply intended to record some of the places in Macau which Camilo Pessanha would have known.
Our hope is that the photographs printed here can give readers a glimpse of scenes which have now almost entirely disappeared but which can provide a backdrop for the images which inhabit our imagination.
Photographs lent by Victor Hugo Marreiros (first published in the 1927 Macau year book) and by Luís Sá Cunha (private collection).
Hong Gong Temple in the bazaar
Kong Nam Guest House (?) at nº 198, Rua 5 de Outubro
Rickshaw man and knife-grinder
Rua 5 de Outubro
Procession entering the Cathedral
Houses in the Inner Harbour
Silva Mendes' house and Guia Lighthouse with the entrance to the Parsee Cemetery in the foreground
View of Taipa town with the bell tower of the Church of Our Lady of Carmo on the far right
Flora Mansion
Taipa town -- Avenida da Praia -- with the Church of Our Lady of Carmo in the background
Public Security Headquarters
Kung Kao Chinese School in São Lázaro quarter
Macau Secondary School (main hall)
Macau Secondary School
Banco Nacional Ultramarino
Macau Secondary School (physics laboratory)
Military Club (smoking room)
Show in D. Pedro V Theatre
Macau Secondary School (boys, fifth form)
Harbour
Parade in São Francisco Barracks
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