Beyond the most prominent Unesco World Heritage sites in Asia, such as the Taj Mahal and Angkor Wat, there are many others deserving of attention. There may be fewer foreign visitors at India’s 1,500-year-old cave temple complex, in Japan’s demon-riddled sacred forest and around Macau’s historic centre, yet each has its own charms.
Here are five of Asia’s most underappreciated Unesco wonders.
Historic Centre of Macao
The Dom Pedro V Theatre is a Portuguese jewel in Macau. Photo: Ronan O’ConnellMany of the United Nations agency’s World Heritage “sites” are not a single landmark but rather a spread of connected locations, as is the case with the Portuguese-Chinese fusion of culture and architecture that is the “Historic Centre of Macao”.
The site, added to Unesco’s register in 2005, comprises 22 buildings and public spaces on the Macanese peninsula. Stand-outs include the elegant 19th century Dom Pedro V Theatre; Senado Square; Macau’s oldest temple, A-Ma, built in 1488; the ruins of the 17th century Saint Paul’s College; and the hilltop Monte Fort.
Its return to China in 1999 after more than 400 years as a Portuguese territory makes Macau both the first and last European colony in East Asia. The modest settlement of 1557 would bloom over the centuries into a wealthy, glitzy city but peninsular Macau contrasts starkly with the reclaimed, casino-lined Cotai Strip, being a warren of winding, time-worn streets along which colonial-era churches, forts, theatres and barracks flank Chinese temples and mansions.
Unesco lauds the Historic Centre as an outstanding example of cultural and architectural interplay: “Chinese design features are adapted in Western style buildings and vice versa.”
