Area : | Macau |
Address: | Praça de Luís de Camões de Macau |
Opening Hours: | 6:00-24:00 |
Tel: | 2833 7676 |
Fee: | Free |
Transportation: | Public Bus Information Station |
Facilities: | library, children's play facilities, fitness facilities, public toilet, water dispenser, Luís de Camões Plant Nursery |
There is a sculpture named “Embrace” erected at the centre of the fountain not far from the entrance of the park. It was produced by sculptor Irene Vilar in 1996. The stone stairway leading to Camões Grotto was paved with Portuguese cobblestones arranged in patterns on the theme of the epic poem “Os Lusíadas”, which were adapted by Jorge Estrela from the drawings of the master Lima de Freitas. A viewing platform stands on the highest point of the park. It was constructed by the order of the French geographer and explorer Count Jean-Francois de Galaup for the purpose of astronomical studies in 1787, at the time when his fleet berthed along the shore of Taipa Island.
Over the northern side of the park is an artificial cascade built with two groups of natural overlapping rocks. The statue of St. Andrew Kim Taegon (1821-1846), who had studied in Macao from 1837 to 1842 and was the first Korean Christian martyr, stands nearby. It was gifted to the Diocese of Macao in 1986 by the Korean Catholic Church.
Besides these attractions, the park has a small library, children’s playground and fitness equipment, etc.
The park was once a nursery for plant species collected by the British East India Company. Today, it is still a green space with many old trees, such as Mock Bodh Tree (Ficus rumphii), Persimmon-leaved Litsea (Litsea monopetala), Jambolan Plum (Syzygium cumini), Karnikar (Pterospermum heterophyllum), Buddhist Pine (Podocarpus macrophyllus) and Chinese Banyan (Ficus microcarpa). The Breadfruit Tree (Artocarpus altilis) in the square facing the park entrance is the first of its species planted in Macao.
Luís de Camões Park is a sightseeing destination of Macao, as it is historically significant and of exotic beauty and serenity.