Society

Macao's biggest historical residence opens to public

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-02-04 16:30

MACAO: The Mandarin's House, one of Macao's world-heritage protected buildings, will open its door to the public Friday for the first time since the restoration project began, the local Macao Post Daily reported on Thursday.

The Mandarin's House, also known as Zheng's Family Mansion in Chinese, is a two-story open plan dwelling and former residence of Zheng Guanying, a late Qing dynasty merchant and political reformer from Guangdong who penned his Treatise "Words of Warning in Times of Prosperity" while living in the historical residence.

The Mandarin's House is due to open its doors to public for free at 3 pm Friday, according to a press release of Cultural Affairs Bureau of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR). While visitors can gain entry without reserving a slot on one of the tours, it is recommended that visitors pre-register by going to the official website, as the entire house can only accommodate 100 people at a time, and priority is given to those who pre-register.

Believed to be built before 1869, the Mandarin's House covers an area of nearly 4,000 square meters, the biggest of such kind in Macao, officials of Cultural Affairs Bureau said.

Cultural Affairs Bureau took over the residence in July 2001 for restoration, and spent eight years and around 43 million patacas (US$5.44 million) on the restoration project, which was originally scheduled to cost 36 million patacas and be open by 2007.