The Government Headquarters Open Day sessions will this year be held during the weekend of 21 to 22 October. The sessions will include thematic flower displays, a photography exhibition and live music and dance performances.
On both days, between 9am and 6pm, members of the public will have the opportunity to visit the Protocol Palace of the Government Headquarters and part of its garden.
This year’s flower show is themed “The Orchid Yard with Poetry and Painting”. It features Chinese landscape paintings, flower-and-bird poems and paintings, and butterfly-and-fish poems and paintings as backdrops to highlight the floral and horticultural designs.
An “Exhibition of Old Photos of Macao” will be on display in the Multipurpose Room of the Protocol Palace. Guided tours will be available starting at the ground floor, allowing visitors to have a better understanding of the Government Headquarters and the changing cityscape of Macao over the years.
There will be live musical performances by the Macao Police Band; and live musical instrument performances and live dance performances by students from, respectively, the School of Music and the School of Dance – institutions both based at the Macao Conservatory.
In conjunction with the Open Day sessions, the Macao Post and Telecommunications Bureau will set up a temporary postal counter near the Nam Van Lake, to sell Macao philatelic products and provide a commemorative postmark service for such products.
During the period of the Open Day sessions, the Macao Government Tourism Office will have a booth to distribute promotional material.
The public can enter the Government Headquarters by the entrance on Travessa do Paiva. It is located on the right-hand side of the Protocol Palace as visitors face the front of the main building. They should then follow the designated route, which includes visits to the Multipurpose Room and the Lotus Room on the ground floor of the Protocol Palace. Via the marble staircase to the first floor, visitors can explore the Grand Hall, the Green Hall, the Yellow Hall and the Blue Hall.
Visitors are advised to take care when navigating steps on their visit to the Government Headquarters. Selfie sticks, pets, umbrellas, drinks and food are all barred from the premises.
For the convenience of visitors, special traffic arrangements will be in force throughout the Open Day sessions in some sections of Travessa do Paiva. Drivers are urged to pay attention to the temporary traffic signs and follow police advice.
For more information, please visit http://www2.gcs.gov.mo/openday/en/index.php and download “GCE Macao”, an application for digital devices developed by the Chief Executive’s Office.
The website also features a 360-panoramic photograph of the Government Headquarters, to offer visitors a unique perspective of the complex.