Government Headquarters open to public during the weekend

The Government Headquarters Open Day sessions will this year be held during the weekend (15 and 16 October), from 9am to 6pm. The sessions will include a series of performances and thematic flower displays. During the two days, members of the public will have the opportunity to visit the Protocol Palace of the Government Headquarters – a brightly coloured landmark built more than 160 years ago – and its garden, located on Avenida da Praia Grande. There will also be guided tours of the ground floor of the Headquarters. There will additionally be a display in the Multi-purpose Room of the Protocol Palace, titled “Exhibition of Old Photos of Macao”. This year’s flower show is themed “Green Home”, inspired by the concept of urban dwellers that also seek a green life. The colourful blooms of the flower show will be in the front yard display zone, the lawn display zone and the flower rack display zone. There will be live musical performances by the Macao Police Band; and musical instrument performances, choir singing and dance performances by students from, respectively, the School of Music and the School of Dance – institutions both based at the Macao Conservatory. The original portion of the Government Headquarters – including the Protocol Palace – was built in 1849. It was used as the office for Macao heads of government prior to the establishment of the Macao SAR, and has been used for that purpose since then. Nowadays the building houses the Executive Council chamber; a Multi-purpose Room; and the Lotus Room. The office of the Chief Executive is on the first floor, together with the Green Hall, the Yellow Hall and the Blue Hall, which are for greeting guests and holding meetings and banquets. An application for digital devices called “GCE Macao” has been developed on behalf of the Chief Executive’s Office. It has more detailed information about the Headquarters and a schedule of Open Day session activities. Members of the public may download this application and at the same time enter a lucky draw game. For more information, please visit http://www2.gcs.gov.mo/openday or http://www.gov.mo.