Macau

Another card from the holiday archives sent from Portuguese Macau before its handover to mainland China in 1999. One of Macau's most famous landmarks, this façade of the Ruins of Saint Paul's Cathedral is all that remain of what was once the largest churches in Asia. The cathedral was Built by Jesuits from 1582 to 1602 with carvings made by Japanese Christians in exile from their homeland and was largely consumed by fire caused by a typhoon in 1835. It is now a part of the Historic Centre of Macau World Heritage site.

Both stamps from a multiyear series on public buildings and monuments in Macau. Stamp on the left was issued in 1983 and features the same Ruins of Saint Paul's Cathedral as the postcard. Stamp on the right was issued in 1982 and features the Museum of Luís de Camões, the literary darling of the Portuguese language who spent a number of years working in Macau in the very earliest days of the colony.