The protection process and measures of Macau’s heritage buildings

In 2005, Macau was merged into the World Cultural Heritage List with the Historic District of Macau. In addition to strengthening the protection and revitalization of the 22 buildings and 8 square fronts in the area, the Macau government has also unearthed a number of historical and cultural heritages. Historical buildings of cultural significance, such as General Ye Ting’s Former Residence, Former Chong Sai Pharmacy, and the Patane Night Watch House. The long historical memory of Macau and even the Lingnan region. This article sorts out the protection process and common measures of Macau’s heritage buildings. Through the study of Macau’s heritage buildings, it discusses specific measures for the protection and activation of heritage buildings, which has a reference for the sustainable development of heritage buildings.


Introduction
Macau has a wealth of heritage buildings and long experience in building protection, especially in the process of urban development, Macau has organically combined Portuguese Western architectural styles with traditional Chinese architectural styles. Therefore, there are also Western practices in the protection of heritage buildings. Chinese-style measures have special methods for different types of buildings, which are worthy of in-depth study.

History of Heritage Building Conservation
Since Portugal entered Macau in the 16th century to establish the Macau-Portuguese government, it has left behind countless historical buildings of Portuguese, Chinese, and Sino-Portuguese mixed styles. Due to Macau's special political background and location factors, it has avoided several wars and turmoil. As a result, most of the various administrative buildings, public buildings and residential buildings have been well preserved to this day [1].
In the middle of the 20th century, affected by the upsurge in the protection of historical buildings in Europe after World War II, the Macau and Portuguese government began to formulate a list of cultural relics and historical buildings until 1976, when the 34/76/M decree was issued, which listed 89 protected buildings. Cultural relics and historical buildings [2].
In 1984, the Australian and Portuguese government reclassified and screened the protected cultural relics and historical buildings, and introduced Decree No. 56/84/M to replace the original Decree, which listed "memorials", "buildings" and "locations", etc. There are 84 cultural relics and historical buildings in three categories [3]. In 1992, the Portuguese government expanded the scope of protection of cultural relics and historical buildings and introduced Decree No. 83/92/M. On the basis of the original Decree, the category of "buildings with architectural and artistic value" was added, and numerous items were added to the list. Public buildings and residential buildings with historical culture and architectural art, such as the fire station building, the post office building, the private residence of Lu Lianruo, and the Mansion House (now the Zheng Family House), etc., with a total of 128 cultural relics and historical buildings [4].
Macau's successful application for World Cultural Heritage in 2005 has promoted the importance of the Macau SAR government's cultural heritage protection. In 2006, the Chief Executive's Order No. 202/2006 was issued, which will belong to the monuments of Macau's historical city, buildings with architectural and artistic value, Building groups and locations are included in the scope of protection.
In 2013, the "Cultural Heritage Protection Law" was officially promulgated. Compared with the previous decree, the "Law on the Protection of Cultural Heritage" has added two new chapters, including the establishment of a cultural heritage committee, the establishment of a protection and management plan for the historical city of Macau, expansion of the scope of protection (Figure 1), and the Material cultural heritage and ancient and famous trees are included in the objects of protection [5].

Protection method
Macau's cultural heritage protection methods can be divided into four types:  Only retain the outer envelope of the building, and redesign and construct the interior to meet the modern life needs of the public, such as the buildings in the Senado Square (Figure 2), the facade of the building is retained, and the interior is used as a street shop to meet the shopping needs of citizens and tourists. This practice was common before the promulgation of the "Cultural Heritage Protection Law".   (Figure 3), the building interior is fully used as a classroom and a piano practice room for students.    Figure 5. Mandarin's House (Source: Self-photo)  Using the museum model to completely preserve the facade and internal structure of the building, such as the Mandarin's House ( Figure 5), the Macau Cultural Affairs Bureau will use the original materials, craftsmanship and architectural artistic characteristics to restore in accordance with the principle of repairing the old. The overall appearance of the Zheng family's house is restored in history and culture, and the office and rest scenes of the historical figure Zheng Guanying are restored. In the architectural space layout, the layout features of the bridge, garden, first courtyard and inner courtyard of Chinese style courtyard building are retained. On the architectural form, the double-tube double-tile slope roof, oyster shell windows, hanging-leg doors of traditional Chinese style houses, three-piece doorways consisting of sliding doors and hardwood doors are retained.

Conclusion
With the deepening of the protection of historical buildings by the Macau government, its methods have also become a trend of diversification. Whether it is repairing the old as it is or combining the new with the old, it must be based on artistic value, historical value, cultural value, economic cost, and citizen needs. Many considerations make historical buildings serve people better.