When strolling down the streets of Macau, you can spot something unusual – the traditional Portuguese styled pavements. They are typical not only for Portugal itself, but also for old Portuguese colonies such as Macau and Brazil. They are usually used in sidewalks and express various Portuguese symbols such as fish, star, ship, boats and seahorse. They are designed with white and black stones made of limestone and basalt. Their history takes us back to Ancient Greece and Rome when the Romans used to pave the vias connecting the empire using materials to be found in the surroundings.
We tried to trace as many of them as possible and here it what we have found:
Would you like to see those in your home country?
37 thoughts on “Unusual Portuguese Pavements In Macau”
Such a great variety of pictures to brighten up any pavement. I always find places with these on have an extra interest and make walking in the cold / rain more enjoyable.
My nearby city of Hull has something called The Fish Trail. They have fancy pictures in the pavement (although not as fancy as these) which allow you to follow a historic trek. Always something fun to do.
Seriously? Gotta check the city of Hull out!
They are beautiful and they do remind me of Roman mosaics. I’d love to go to Portugal, and subsequently visit some of its former colonies.
I was thinking of the same thing – the Roman mosaics!
Gorgeous – and I love the blue and white together!
Love them too!
I’m a bit suspicious on this for being Portuguese, but nothing compares to the beautiful Portuguese pavements, whether they’re in Portugal, Brazil, Macau or any other ex-colony :)
So true! :)
What beautiful tiles. Would love to see a photo of how they look with buildings etc. that are there.
Pretty charming!
That’s a lot of variety you guys have captured. Looks amazing! We saw a lot of such designs throughout our trip in Portugal only that they were very simple patterns and designs.
There were hundreds of them, but we managed to find at least 80 :).
These are so cool. I liked the Ship as my favorite of the group. Geez, the time and detail it took to put those together. Wow :)
It took us hours to find them all! So much fun though :).
I loved these, one of my favourite things about Macau. It’s not that they’re incredibly beautiful or anything, but just so incongruous when you consider the rest of the streetscape (between Chinese culture and casino culture).
Totally agree!
Beautiful pavements, they look like mosaics/collage artworks…
I know. Real art!
Wow, so pretty! I lived on a small island in southern Japan for a couple of years, and while it was never a Portuguese colony, a Portuguese ship had crashed there once and brought some of its arts and crafts to the island. So interesting to see details like this so far away!
I know, it was extremely interesting to us as well!
These are so beautiful! I have to admit that when we were in Macau I didn’t really take the time to notice these. I definitely loved all the Portuguese influences on the architecture and food, but I don’t think I noticed the sidewalks. Great detail!
Haven’t you noticed them? There were everywhere. It was actually almost impossible not to spot at least few of them. Maybe next time :)!
Thanks!
I have never heard of these, let alone seen them… would be pretty cool
Once you make it to Macau, you will see them everywhere!
Fantastic collection! I remember seeing this kind of tiling in Brasil and then again when I went to Portugal a couple years later for the first time. It’s such an interesting and beautiful finger print for a country to have.
I’m gonna try to find them in Portugal this summer!!
Wow, these are beautiful! And I don’t remember seeing any of them when I went to Macau :-(
It’s so crazy as nobody, apart from us, spotted them although it’s nearby impossible to miss them! :)
Wow these are really neat! Impressive they made them with just stones.
It’s a wonderful place where Chinese and Portuguese culture coexist in a strange mix. The two being so distant from each other, seeing them both there makes Macau so unusually beautiful…
What a collection! they are damn beautiful. I like it when i learn different cultural practices from all over the world.
They are beautiful, that’s so true!
Absolutely fascinating designs and very creative too. Looks like they were sea faring people so used all sea creators in their art.
Wow! These are awesome! I love when a city comes up with a nice touch
Me too!