Klenteng Xian Ma (Ma Tjo Poh), Makassar望加锡天后宫（仙妈庙）

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

Indonesia · South Sulawesi province · Makassar · Jalan Sulawesi, Makassar

First built

the 19th century · There is no reliable record of the exact founding year; the surviving building is a modern reconstruction.

Overview

Klenteng Xian Ma stands in the Chinese quarter of Makassar, capital of South Sulawesi Province, dedicated primarily to Tianshang Shengmu (Mazu), with Guanyin, Guandi and Fude Zhengshen worshipped alongside. Makassar has been a hub of the East Indonesian spice trade since the seventeenth century, and the Chinese there worked mainly as brokers and shipowners; the cult of Mazu was established there along with maritime trade. The temple has been rebuilt several times; the surviving building is a modern reconstruction, mainly in Hokkien-style roof ridges and painted decoration, modest in scale but still active in worship. Makassar also has several other Chinese temples, including a Guandi temple, forming an important node of Chinese religious life in eastern Indonesia. The temple is now registered under Indonesian law within the Tridharma or Buddhist vihara system. There is no reliable record of the founding year, and this entry makes no claim about it.

Highlights

• The principal Chinese temple of Makassar, capital of South Sulawesi
• Dedicated primarily to Tianshang Shengmu, established along with maritime spice trade
• Makassar has been a hub of East Indonesian trade since the seventeenth century
• The surviving building is a modern reconstruction, and the founding year is unrecorded