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No. 3, Largo de Santo Agostinho, Macau
S. Lourenço Library
The Sir Robert Ho Tung Library building was constructed before 1894 (the 20th year of the Guangxu reign in the Qing Dynasty). Its original owner was Dona Carolina Antónia da Cunha. After changing hands several times, the property was eventually purchased in 1918 by Sir Robert Ho Tung, a Hong Kong tycoon. After his death, his descendants, following his will, donated the residence at No. 3, Largo de Santo Agostinho to the Macau government, along with a donation of HKD 25,000 to purchase Chinese books, establishing a public library for Chinese collections.
The Sir Robert Ho Tung Library officially opened to the public on August 1, 1958. With a collection of about 3,000 volumes, it was the largest Chinese public library in Macau at the time and the only garden-style library in Hong Kong and Macau.
After serving the public for nearly half a century, the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macau SAR Government, considering the preservation of the historical building and the need for modern public library functions, invested tens of millions of Macau Patacas to construct a new building adjacent to the library's back garden. The new building commenced service on November 13, 2006.
Currently, the combined floor area of the old and new buildings is 3,195 square meters, with a garden area of 1,583 square meters. The library offers approximately 400 reading seats and has a collection capacity of up to 100,000 volumes. It integrates information, learning, culture, and leisure, making it the largest public library in Macau. It features various functional areas including a rare book collection, multi-purpose hall, indoor and outdoor reading areas, children's reading area, audiovisual materials section, lounge, self-study room, terrace garden, book stacks, administrative area, and an ISBN center. Services include book and audiovisual material lending, periodical reading, broadband internet access, music and film appreciation, exhibitions, lectures, and ISBN, ISSN, and ISRC application services.
Located on the second floor of the old building, the Ho Tung Collection houses about 5,000 volumes of ancient Chinese texts, including Chinese literature and history classics from the Ming Jiajing period. The most precious items are sixteen rare books from the former collection of the renowned modern bibliophile Liu Chenggan's "Jiaye Tang," including Weng Fanggang's manuscript of "Siku Quanshu Tiyao Gao," Zha Jizuo's manuscript of "Zui Wei Lu," a Ming Dynasty manuscript copy of "Taiping Yulan" compiled by Li Fang et al., Zhang Xingyao's manuscript of "Tongjian Jishi Benmo Bu Hou Bian," He Jingming's "Yong Da Ji," and Li Zutao's annotated manuscript of "Zizhi Tongjian Dashilu."
Overall, the library's collection focuses on ancient texts, literature, history, philosophy, art, architecture, and audiovisual materials. The collection comprises approximately 4,154 ancient texts, about 92,116 general books, around 5,885 audiovisual items, 69 types of newspapers from various regions, 385 magazine titles, and 49 types of bound back issues of Chinese newspapers.
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