Ruins of St Paul's
The façade of a 1602 Jesuit church, standing alone since a fire.
Duration
45 min – 1 hr 15 min
Best time
Early morning
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The Mater Dei church and St Paul's college were built by the Jesuits between 1602 and 1640, with the help of exiled Japanese Christian craftsmen — which explains the chrysanthemums and Chinese characters carved among the Catholic imagery. It was the largest Christian building in Asia.
A typhoon caused a fire in 1835 that took everything but the south façade and the staircase. What remains is a self-supporting granite wall twenty-three metres high, with sky behind the windows. The crypt and museum of sacred art at the back hold the bones of Japanese and Vietnamese martyrs.
Getting there
At the top of Rua de São Paulo, ten minutes on foot from Largo do Senado. No cars go up — it is all walked.
Rules on site
The sixty-six forecourt steps are polished granite and slippery in damp weather. The site is saturated from ten to five on days when the coaches arrive from Zhuhai.
