Kun Iam Temple 普济禅院

About Kun Iam Temple

The first hall contains three Buddha images, while the principal Guanyin Hall is flanked by arhats. Ceramic roof figures add detail above the courtyards. In the garden, a stone table marks the setting associated with the Treaty of Wanghia. Follow the halls before the garden to understand the complex’s religious and historical layers.

The monastery's exact founding date is unknown, but a bell dated to the fifth year of the Chongzhen reign (崇祯五年) and a stele from the seventh year of the Tianqi era (天启七年) indicate it was established no later than the end of the Ming dynasty. Its founding patriarch is recorded as the monk Shi Lian Dashan (石濂大汕). A pavilion commemorating the 1844 treaty signed at the temple was erected in 1944.

A bronze bell over 350 years old hangs beside the main hall, whose roof ridge bears Ming-dynasty glazed tiles and Shiwan ceramic figures. The Guanyin statue in the rear hall, carved from camphor wood, sits on a lotus throne flanked by eighteen arhats; local tradition holds that one arhat represents the Venetian traveller Marco Polo. The rear garden is described as unusually large among Buddhist temple gardens in Hong Kong and Macau.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War the painter Gao Jianfu (高剑父) lived at the temple, which holds his paintings and those of his student Guan Shanyue (关山月), plus the manuscript diary of the late-Ming monk Jin Bao (金堡). With A-Ma Temple (妈阁庙) and Lin Fung Temple (莲峰庙) it is one of Macau's three great ancient temples, named one of the “Eight Sights of Macau” in 1992, and designated a Monument (纪念物).

What to look for

• Buddha and Guanyin halls contain distinct groups of religious images.
• Ceramic figures decorate the rooflines above the courtyards.
• The rear garden includes the stone table associated with the Treaty of Wanghia.

Location & getting there

Getting to Kun Iam Temple

The tourism office gives 2 Avenida do Coronel Mesquita for Kun Iam Tong. Use this temple address, since Macau has other separate Guanyin shrines and an offshore Kun Iam statue.