On This Day | Macau’s historic centre added to Unesco World Heritage list in 2005 – from SCMP archive

This article was first published on July 16, 2005.

By Freda Wan

Her­it­age list­ing hailed as key to widen­ing Macau’s appeal

Macau’s aim to pos­i­tion itself as something more than a gambling hub received a boost on Tuesday night (July 15, 2005) when many of its land­marks were added to Unesco’s World Herit­age list.

The 29 sites, which played a key role in the earli­est encoun­ters between east and west, now rank along­side such famed sites as China’s Great Wall and the Angkor temples in Cam­bodia.

The announce­ment was made last night at a con­fer­ence of the United Nations Educational, Sci­entific and Cul­tural Organ­isa­tion in Durban, South Africa.

The sites – described by Macau chief exec­ut­ive Edmund Ho Hauwah as a “unique, peerless jewel” – incor­por­ate many Por­tuguese build­ings that were the first of their kind on Chinese soil.