Estrada de S. Francisco

Located on the southeastern foothill of Guia Hill, the Estrada de S. Francisco was built along a section of the old city wall on its south where it meets the Avenida da Praia Grande.

The Estrada de S. Francisco was named circa 1897 to 1905. Its Chinese name, “Ka Si Lan”, is a transliteration of “Castilla”, the region where the Spanish Franciscan friars who had set up a convent nearby the Estrada came from. The fortress and its barrack in the proximity of the convent is known as “Ka Si Lan” Fortress and “Ka Si Lan” Barrack in Chinese (S. Francisco Fortress and S. Francisco Barrack in Portuguese), and so does the adjacent garden, known as “Ka Si Lan” Garden in Chinese (S. Francisco Garden in Portuguese). The convent was demolished in the mid-19th century while the fortress and its barrack had been strategic fortifications of Macao.

In the old days, the area down below the S. Francisco Fortress was a patch of sea. A land reclamation project of the Praia Grande was launched from 1931 to 1938, covering the sea area below the Fortress to that in front of the Public Services Building of Macao.