Facing Largo do Senado is Macau’s most important historical building, the 18th-century ‘Loyal Senate’, which houses the Instituto para os Assuntos Cívicos e Municipais (IACM; Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau). It is so-named because the body sitting here refused to recognise Spain’s sovereignty during the 60 years that it occupied Portugal. In 1654, a dozen years after Portuguese sovereignty was re-established, King João IV ordered a heraldic inscription to be placed inside the entrance hall, which can still be seen today.
Inside the entrance hall is the IACM Temporary Exhibition Gallery . On the 1st floor is the Senate Library , which has a collection of some 18,500 books, and wonderful carved wooden furnishings and panelled walls.
