“Lanes”, “Alleys” and Cultural Heritage

Throughout the centuries, the “lanes” and “alleys” across Macao are a kind of self-sufficient small communities owning to their inherently distinctive features. They are characterized by porched houses, intertwined footpaths, rectangular archways, buildings with a hanging floor whose area beneath forms an open passage and Chinese elements like water wells and shrines dedicated to the God of Earth. Nowadays, the extant ones are concentrated along the southern and northern sides of Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro with some twenty of them of historical value. The Pátio da Eterna Felicidade is one that remains well-preserved in spatial and architectural layouts where age-old houses built of traditional grey-blue bricks are still standing in good condition. In the early days of Macao, local charitable associations rented these houses inexpensively to the impoverished households of the Chinese community.

By today, with many of these houses left vacant, the Pátio da Eterna Felicidade has lost much of its vitality. But traces of its historic past are still visible here and there. In fact, it is the place to be for a grasp of the life and cultural traditions of the local Chinese community. It is located in the heart of the Historic Centre of Macao, in close proximity to visiting destinations, like St. Paul’s Ruins and Saint Anthony Church, and is a part of the tourism resources within the World Heritage district of the city.