St. Joseph's Seminary and Church, winner of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Conservation Award in 2001

Among the many churches in Macau, the ones that impressed me the most were St. Joseph's Seminary and Church. It consists of a monastery and a church. Due to time constraints, I only visited the church and did not visit the monastery's treasure house. I spent a lot of time visiting the church and was reluctant to leave. St. Joseph won the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Cultural Heritage Conservation Award in 2001. In 2005, it became part of the Historic District of Macau and was listed as a World Cultural Heritage. Locals call it "Sanbazi".

St. Joseph's Seminary was founded by Jesuits in 1728. It is located next to the Ho Tung Library at the entrance of St. Joseph's Seminary. A statue of the Virgin Mary was erected next to the door, beautifying the simplicity of the side door and making it more solemn and sacred. The church adjacent to the monastery was completed in 1758. St. Joseph's Church, together with the collapsed St. Paul's Church (i.e., the Ruins of St. Paul) Church, is a rare Baroque-style building in China. This is the main entrance of St. Joseph's Church taken at the bottom of the steps. The white relief above the door is the emblem of the Jesuits. The architectural style of the church belongs to the Baroque style. There are three entrances on the front, and the light yellow exterior wall is particularly clean. There are symmetrical bell towers on both sides of the top floor of the church.

The main altar is dedicated to the statue of St. Joseph, and the altars on the left and right sides are dedicated to Jesus and the Virgin Mary. The two groups of four spiral columns with gold leaves on the waist of the main altar in the church are the most distinctive, and each column base has various different gold carvings. The S-shaped column is a symbol of the Baroque style, and there are many such columns in the church. The rich carvings and the combination of gold and yellow make the building have a sense of splendor. The classical and gorgeous layout, at the same time, all the columns in the church are designed in the ancient Greek era, showing a classical flavor.

The main altar is dedicated to the statue of St. Joseph, and the altars on the left and right sides are dedicated to Jesus and the Virgin Mary. The church houses the humerus of St. Francis Xavier, the first Jesuit missionary to the Far East, which is an important relic of the Eastern Catholic Church for believers to admire.