ST002-Carmo Fair (Former Site of Taipa Municipal Market)

The Former Taipa Municipal Market, also known as Carmo Fair, is located at the intersection of Rua Direita Carlos Eugénio and Rua do Cunha in Taipa. It was first built in 1879[1] and its present form dates from a reconstruction in 1886[2]. In the 1970s, the Taipa Municipal Market fell into disuse. With the urban development of Taipa, a new municipal market was built in 1983 at the crossroads of Rua do Cunha and Rua do Regedor. The former site of the Taipa Municipal Market began to be used for utility and warehousing purposes. In 2003, the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau began to reconstruct the Former Site of Taipa Municipal Market. On the basis of the main structure, a new square was developed and the remaining walls on the two sides were demolished to provide an open area for the public. It was given the name “Xu” – the way municipal markets were conventionally called in Cantonese. This designation reflects the idea of combining a municipal market with a square[3].

The Former Taipa Municipal Market has at its centre a pavilion with a hip-roof, which is flanked by arcade structures with mono-pitched roofs, low walls and entrances. Although the market was built in western style, the roof was covered with typical Chinese style roof tiles from Guangdong.. The columns have a neoclassical influence, namely of the Doric order, although their proportions and structure are not usual.. The roof structures are supported by traditional western wooden trusses, the cornices of which use two layers of boards rarely seen in Macao. The inner layer of boards features petaloid edges typical of buildings in Southeast and South Asia. The Carmo Fair is one of the main public structures in the old part of Taipa that has a unique architectural style.

Before the rise of large indoor municipal markets, open-air municipal markets dominated. The Carmo Fair (Former Site of Taipa Municipal Market), is a material legacy referring to this ancient typology and is an important historical testimony to the evolution of Macao's public markets.