St Joseph’s, which falls outside the tourist circuit, is Macau’s most beautiful model of tropicalised baroque architecture. Consecrated in 1758 as part of the Jesuit seminary, it features a scalloped canopy and a staircase leading to the courtyard from which you see the arresting white-and-yellow facade of the church and its dome. The latter is the oldest dome ever built in China. The interior, with its three altars, is lavishly ornamented with overlapping pilasters and attractive Solomonic 'spiral' columns.
Macao's College and Church of St Joseph: Splendour of Baroque in China by art historian Cesar Guillen-Nuñez is a good book to read if you want to know more about the church, its architecture and history.
