St. Joseph's Seminary and Church

Look up. That dome rising above the rooftops is unlike anything else in Macao. You are standing before St. Joseph's Seminary and Church, widely considered the most beautiful baroque church in all of China, and the building that locals affectionately call the younger sister of St. Paul's. The Jesuits built this church in 1758, more than a century after completing their great masterpiece up the hill, the church whose ruins you may have already visited. St. Joseph's was designed as the chapel for their seminary, a training school for Catholic missionaries sent across East Asia. This seminary was one of the most important centres for Catholic education in the region. Step inside and prepare to be astonished. The dome soars above you, flooded with natural light from windows set into the drum. This is genuine European baroque architecture, built with techniques you would find in Rome or Lisbon, but constructed by Chinese craftsmen working under Jesuit direction. The fusion of European ambition and Chinese craftsmanship produced something remarkable. Look at the high altar. The ornate gilded woodwork, the spiralling columns, the religious paintings in elaborate frames, this is baroque at its most exuberant. The Jesuits believed that beauty was a...