Protestant Cemetery

Opening hours

08:30 - 17:30

Introduction

This site provides an insight into Macao’s diverse community profile. Located close to the Casa Garden, the Protestant Cemetery provides a comprehensive record of the earliest Protestant community of Macao. Together with the site, the chapel was built in 1821, which is now referred to as “the Morrison Chapel” in honour of Robert Morrison (1782-1834), author of the first Chinese-English Dictionary and the first translation of the Bible into Chinese. George Chinnery (1774-1852), an important British China-trade artist is also buried at the site, alongside various other prominent figures of the time, including several officials from the East India Company, and Protestants from the United States and Britain. This cemetery is an especially significant legacy from the period prior to the British occupation of Hong Kong.

The Protestant Cemetery occupies an area of approximately 2,800 square metres. There are 162 tombs, including that of Robert Morrison, whose wife died in 1821 and was the first person buried there. The cemetery is divided into two levels: the upper level and the lower level. The former has an area measuring 30 metres long by 10 metres wide, and has forty tombs sheltered by lush trees and a pathway, at the end of which lies the dignified gravestone of the George Chinnery. The lower level, measuring 60 by 30 metres, is surrounded by tall trees and has tombstones lined on both sides, leaving a spacious lawn in the middle. The tombstones are made of granite in general, differing in size, in style and design.


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Site Plan

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Perspective of the Morrison Chapel