The Macau handover ceremony will be staged at a 215,000-square-foot venue under an agreement reached by Beijing and Lisbon yesterday.
The structure will be erected on a site between the Macau Cultural Centre and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Design details and the exact cost of the structure have yet to be announced.
Agreement was reached 313 days before the handover and was announced by delegation chiefs to the Sino-Portuguese Joint Liaison Group, Portuguese Ambassador Santana Carlos and Chinese Ambassador Han Zhaokang.
Mr Carlos said the Sino-Portuguese handover ceremony would be held on December 19 at the makeshift venue, which would have 'great dignity'.
Portugal will hold its own ceremony marking the handover at the Cultural Centre shortly before the joint ceremony.
After the joint ceremony, China will hold a special ceremony at a separate venue, to mark establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region.