Phát Diệm Cathedral

Interesting facts

The building stone was hauled from quarries more than 200 km away, across the flat, marshy delta.

Before construction began, the ground was raised by about a metre with packed earth to give the buildings a firm base.

Each of the tallest ironwood columns is about 11 metres high, 2.35 metres around and weighs roughly 10 tonnes.

The altar was cut from a single stone about 3 metres long that weighs around 20 tonnes.

The great bell, cast in 1890, stands about 1.4 metres tall and was said to be heard across two provinces.

The square bell tower hall, Phương Đình, is about 25 metres high, 17 metres wide and 24 metres long.

The novelist Graham Greene, writing about Phát Diệm, remarked that the cathedral seemed more Buddhist than Christian.

The wooden statues inside were carved by a local Vietnamese artisan named Pho Gia.

The rectangular lake in front of the cathedral covers roughly four hectares.

Why it is worth it

Rising from the rice country of the Red River delta, Phát Diệm Cathedral looks at first like a Vietnamese pagoda complex: curved tiled roofs, a broad stone-built hall facing a lake, and a tower-gate that could belong to a temple. Only on closer inspection do the crosses, saints and Catholic iconography reveal what it is. This deliberate blend of East Asian and Gothic church forms, often described as Vietnamese-Gothic eclecticism, makes it one of the most unusual cathedrals anywhere.

The complex was the life's work of the parish priest Trần Lục, known to the French as Père Six. Work began in 1875 and the main church was finished in 1891, with the surrounding buildings added over the following years: five chapels dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (1883), the Sacred Heart (1889), Saint Roch (1895), Saint Joseph and Saint Peter (both 1896), and a square hall with the bell tower in 1899. The whole ensemble, together with grottoes, a memorial house and a covered stone bridge from the nineteenth century, spreads over roughly 15 acres in the town of Phát Diệm, Kim Sơn District, Ninh Bình Province. A statue of the Sacred Heart stands in the lake before the façade.

The main church is about 210 feet long and 60 feet wide, set on limestone foundations and carried on 52 pillars of ironwood, sixteen of them about 11 metres tall. The altar is cut from a single slab of stone and framed by lacquered, gilded woodwork. Under the vaulted ceiling, painted with angels, hang thirty portraits of missionaries, while the carving throughout mixes Christian scenes with dragons, phoenixes, tortoises and unicorns drawn from Vietnamese symbolism. The bell tower holds a bronze bell weighing about two tonnes. In August 1972 the building was hit by bombing during the war and its west wall collapsed. Today it remains the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phát Diệm.

Getting there

Phát Diệm lies about 29 km southeast of Ninh Bình city and around 121 km from Hanoi. The nearest town by straight-line distance is Nga Sơn, about 15 km away across the provincial border in Thanh Hóa. The closest international airport is Cat Bi International Airport (HPH) in Hai Phong, about 105 km to the northeast.

From the encyclopaedia

The Phát Diệm Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phát Diệm, located in Kim Sơn District of Ninh Bình Province in Vietnam. The architecture of the church – built in stone and wood in 1891 – is an eclectic blend of Vietnamese and European architectural styles. It was mainly built in traditional Vietnamese architecture, similar to historical palaces and temples. It was bombed in 1972 and subsequently restored. Complementing the cathedral, the Phat Diem complex includes five chapels, three grottoes, a memorial house, and a recently constructed pastoral center for the diocese.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Phát Diệm Cathedral

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

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From the encyclopaedia