Section of the Old City Walls of Macau, Colonial defensive fortification in Macau Peninsula, China

The Section of the Old City Walls of Macau comprises preserved fragments of a colonial-era fortification that once surrounded the peninsula. The construction merges European military design with local materials including clay, sand, oyster shells, and rice straw in the structural composition.

Construction of the walls began in 1569, but the Ming authorities repeatedly had them demolished because they forbade the Portuguese from building fortifications. In 1632 the Portuguese rebuilt the northern walls and forts anyway, citing the need to repel a Dutch invasion; the surviving section near Na Tcha Temple belongs to this 1632 reconstruction. In 2005 the walls were inscribed as part of the UNESCO Historic Centre of Macau.

The surviving stretch stands in São Francisco Xavier Alley, behind the Na Tcha Temple, with the village lane of Patio das Chalas behind it. At its end hangs the old signboard of Leong Weng Heng, a former incense shop, a trace of the residential life that grew against the wall.

The wall sections are mainly accessible on foot near Na Tcha Temple, where you can walk alongside the structures at your own pace. Informational signs at the site explain the construction methods and provide historical background to help you understand what you are seeing.

The surviving stretch near Na Tcha Temple measures 18.5 m long, 5.6 m high and 1.08 m thick, with a brick archway 1.8 m wide and 2.8 m tall. Behind the earthen wall lies Choi Lam Village, and at its far end an old signboard for Leong Weng Heng Incense Shop still hangs.