Macau Temples

5. Pou Tai Un
Location : Taipa Island

- Founded in the 19th century, both the monastery and temples have since been extended and enriched by devotees. There are new pavilions with soaring yellow-tile roofs and an elegant statue of Kun Iam on a marble-columned terrace.
- This is possibly the richest temple in Macau.
- Buddhist monks started the temple in the 1800's.
- The original prayer hall is home to images of the Three Precious Buddhas.

6. Tai Soi Miu
Location : Rua da Figueira

- Kun Iam has a prominent place in the temple.
- Also included is a shrine to Pau Kung, the Taoist god of justice.
- Tai Soi is among Macau's most interesting temples.
- The temple has been described as "a vertical maze of prayer halls linked by narrow staircases and moon gates".
- A collection of goddesses, who serve as patrons to pregnant women, fertility, and child birth, are in the temple.
- There is a shrine to the gilded Sleeping Buddha inside the temple.


7. Tam Kung Miu

- The temple is dedicated to Tam Kung, the Taoist god of sailors.
- The temple houses a four foot replica of a dragon boat made from whale bone - complete with wooden sailors in red robes and yellow hats.
- There are extravagant murals in the temple.

8. A-Ma Temple
The A-Ma Temple sits by a cliff at the bottom of Penha Hill. The temple has four main buildings, three of which are dedicated to A-Ma. The goddess of Mercy, Kun Iam, is the focus of one shrine. (Kun Iam is more often Romanized as Kuan Yin or Guan Yin in Chinese, and is associated with Avalokitesvara of the Buddhist sutras.) The Main Hall, Stone Hall, and Great Mercy Hall, however, are dedicated to A-Ma and include statues of the goddess and models of the Chinese junk in which she made her legendary voyage.

Garden spots built into the cliff behind the temple provide some excellent views of the city. There is a festival in honor of A-Ma in April or May each year.

9. Pak Tai
Locates at Rua do Regedor. Devoted to the Taoist god of the North, Pak Tai. Built in 1844. It was renovated in 1994 by the Macau Cultural Institute and the Orient Foundation.

10. Tin Hau Old Temple
Locates at Avenida da República. The oldest temple on Coloane Island, was built in 1677. The temple has undergone several renovations, the most recent being sponsored by the Macau Cultural Institute in the 1980's. In traditional fashion, the temple is divided into three chapels. Tin Hua is the "Queen of the Sky" in Chinese mythology. Tin Hau shares the temple with alters to the god of war (Kuan Tai), the god of wealth (Choi Pa Seng Kaun), the god of medicine (Wa To), and the god of carpenters (Lou Pan).

11. Lin Kai Temple
One of the older temples in the city, it dates from the late 1600's. The temple's facade is granite with carvings on the walls. Large Chinese lions guard he roof. Ua Kuong, the god of protection against fire, is the temple's focus. As in most of the city's temples, Kun Iam has a shrine; in Lin Kai Temple she shares her alter with Kuan Tin. There is also a section of the temple for the goddesses of pregnancy and child birth, along with statues of their children. And there is a display of the 60 different "year gods" -- one for each year in the Chinese astrological calendar. Finally, there is a hall devoted to the Taoist Monkey god (who has his own epic in Taoist literature). Lin Kai Temple supports a hospital and a home for the poor.

12. Kuan Tai Temple
Built in 1750, the temple is dedicated to Kuan Tai, the god of war and riches in Chinese mythology. Kuan Tai and his two sons sit on an alter in the temple. The temple's keeper and his family use parts of the temple as their home. Festivals to Kuan Tai take place in May and June.

A Ma Temple

Temple of the Goddess of Mercy(its another name), known as "Pou Chai Sim Yun", is the most famous and impressive among the three temples in Macau.

Tam Kung Temple

Three Sages Temple - Coloane

Three Sages Temple Ka Ho