Origin of Rua de Entre-Campos

The densely populated neighborhood composed by alleys and lanes around Rua de Entre-Campos, Rua da Erva and Rua dos Curtidores is nowadays tightly packed by buildings. But in the past, it was a vast area of vegetable fields and farmlands lying beyond the Saint Anthony’s Gate of the city of Macao. Many small villages dotted the land with scattered settlements of neatly arranged low-eaved houses.

After the reign of Emperor Tongzhi of Qing dynasty, Macao set out on a path of urbanization and this area underwent development too. Roads and streets were constructed and the features of the villages changed over time. Some of its streets have a toponomic name, like the Cool Water Street (Rua dos Curtidores in Portuguese) of Village of Well of Cool Water. By then, the land stretching from behind today’s Lin Kai Temple to Rua do Patane was mostly vegetable fields with only a muddy footpath to skirt around. The residents called the footpath as “Road alongside Fields” until officially renamed into Rua de Entre-Campos.

Today, Rua de Entre-Campos is largely lined by buildings of four to five-storey high with characteristic alleys and lane running transversely across it.