Phát Diệm Cathedral

File:Nhà tho Phát Diem.jpg

The cathedral is located in Phát Diệm township of Kim Sơn District in Ninh Bình Province.{{Sfn|Guides|2015|p=406}}{{Sfn|Lưu|2000|p=236}} It is about 29 km southeast of Ninh Binh and {{Convert|121|km}} from Hanoi.{{Sfn|Ray|Yanagihara2005|p=177}}{{Sfn|Broyles|2013|p=1}}

File:Phatdiemk-8.jpg

Phát Diệm Cathedral was built by the priest Father Trần Lục ({{lang|fr|Père Six|italic=no}} in French, or cụ Sáu in Vietnamese).{{Sfn|Keith|2012|p=52}} {{lang|fr|Père Six|italic=no}}'s tomb is in the frontyard of the cathedral.{{Sfn|Guides|2015|p=406}} The wooden statues in the cathedral were all carved by Pho Gia, a Vietnamese artisan.{{Sfn|Sasges|2013|p=106}} The novelist Graham Greene described the cathedral as "more Buddhist than Christian"{{Sfn|Keith|2012|p=48}} in his novel the Quiet American.{{Sfn|Greene|2010|p=39}}

After the 1954 Geneva Conference, many of its parishioners and clergy moved to safer places in South Vietnam. The cathedral is still functioning as a place of worship, and there are many more churches in the district.{{Sfn|Ray|Yanagihara2005|p=177}}

On 15 August 1972, the cathedral was bombed, resulting in the collapse of its entire west wall, the convents and two of the schools. But now, after restoration, there are not even tell-tale marks of this destruction.{{Sfn|Broyles|2013|p=1}}

File:16th century stone angel in Phat Diem cathedral.jpg

The cathedral, a towering stone edifice, was built in 1891 in the Vietnamese style, blended with stone walls built in European neo-Gothic style. To test the foundation condition of the cathedral site in a boggy area, Father Six had created a mound of limestone boulders and found the conditions not to be suitable to build it. It is decorated with box-type cupolas (domes) with "upturned tiled roofs",{{Sfn|Guides|2015|p=406}}{{Sfn|Ray|Yanagihara2005|p=177}} which are like pagodas.{{Sfn|Guides|2015|p=218}} {{lang|fr|Père Six|italic=no}}, who built it, was particular to haul the sand stones to build the cathedral from quarry a distance of more than {{Convert|200| km}} away.{{Sfn|Guides|2015|p=406}} The eclectic design of the cathedral appears as if the pagodas "had been dropped into the towers of a Gothic church." {{Sfn|Broyles|2013|p=1}}

File:Nhà thờ Phát Diệm, Ninh Bình.JPG

The overall size of the cathedral is {{Convert|210| ft}} in length, with a width of {{Convert|60| ft}}.{{Sfn|Welch|2015|p=189}} The nave of the cathedral is built over 52 pillars, of which 16 are {{Convert|11|m|ft|adj=mid|tall}}, carved from large ironwood trees. In the front worship area, the altar is made of a single slab, ornamented in "orthodox-style" and is made of "lacquered and gilded woodwork". Above the altar, there are portrait paintings of about 30 missionaries, most of European origin. The vaulted ceiling has paintings of angels in Vietnamese style.{{Sfn|Guides|2015|p=406}}{{Sfn|Broyles|2013|p=1}} The interior walls are decorated with Catholic iconography, but particularly have paintings of Eastern religious symbols like dragons, unicorns, tortoises and phoenixes.{{Sfn|Guides|2015|p=218}}

File:Kimsonk8.JPG

Apart from the cathedral church, the episcopal residential and pastoral center buildings, there are other structures in the complex, including a stone chapel which looks like a tomb and an elegant bell tower in front of the cathedral.{{Sfn|Guides|2015|p=406}} This entire complex is spread over an area of {{Convert|15|acre}}.{{Sfn|Broyles|2013|p=1}} The two-tonne bronze bell in the bell tower was hauled up over a ramp made of earth. A climb to the top of the bell tower provides a complete scenic view of the town.{{Sfn|Guides|2015|p=406}} There is a platform in front the bell tower made of two layers of very large stone slabs. The platform was used by mandarins to watch proceedings of the ritual Mass conducted in the cathedral. The earth from the ramp, which was used for hauling the bell and other metal objects, was spread around the cathedral, rising the height of the ground by {{Convert|1| m}}. The small chapel is built with large carved stone blocks, and the interior is cool like a cave. A white statue of the Sacred Heart is installed in a small lake in front of the cathedral.{{Sfn|Greene|2010|p=39}} Near the cathedral complex there is 19th-century covered bridge built with stones.{{Sfn|Ray|Yanagihara2005|p=177}}

• The Square Hall (built in 1899), originally functioned as a place of Eucharistic adoration, also as the bell tower
• The Chapel of Immaculate Heart of Mary (1883), completely in stone
• The Chapel of Sacred Heart of Jesus (1889)
• The Chapel of Saint Roch (1895)
• The Chapel of Saint Joseph (1896)
• The Chapel of Saint Peter (1896)

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• {{cite book|last= Broyles |first=William |title=Goodbye Vietnam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a4P1IbWWSpAC&pg=RA1-PA7-IA2|year=2013|publisher=Open Road Media|isbn=978-1-4804-0433-5}}
• {{cite book|last= Greene |first=Graham |title=The Quiet American|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nH4gs8gElOMC|year= 2010|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-4090-1740-0}}
• {{cite book|last= Guides |first=Insight |title=Insight Guides: Vietnam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=04xzCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT406|year= 2015|publisher=APA|isbn=978-1-78005-537-4}}
• {{cite book|last= Keith |first=Charles |title=Catholic Vietnam: A Church from Empire to Nation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q_3qNhitS_0C&pg=PA30|year=2012|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-27247-7}}
• {{cite book|last= Lưu |first=Minh trị |title=Historical remains & beautiful places of Hanoi and the surrounding areas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MCtwAAAAMAAJ|year=2000|publisher=Nhà xuá̂t bản Hà Nội}}
• {{cite book|last1= Ray|first1=Nick|last2= Yanagihara |first2= Wendy |title=Vietnam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eB_kEfBlMUEC&pg=PA177|year=2005|publisher=Lonely Planet|isbn=978-1-74059-677-0}}
• {{cite book|editor-last=Sasges|editor-first=Gerard|title=It's a Living: Work and Life in Vietnam Today|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cnnGBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA106|date=2013|publisher=NUS Press|isbn=978-9971-69-698-6}}
• {{cite book|last= Welch |first=Larry |title=School Days in Vietnam Stories from the Heart|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ySiACgAAQBAJ&pg=PT189|year= 2015|publisher=Trafford Publishing|isbn=978-1-4907-6066-7}}

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{{commons category|Phát Diệm Cathedral}}

• Diocese of Phat Diem (2001). Documentary film [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDNBlIKh_FQ The Cathedral of Phat Diem].
• Diocese of Phat Diem (2004). Documentary film [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaXDw7pEK50 The Message of Stone].
• {{cite thesis |last=Ngo |first=Lan A. |date=2016 |title=Nguyễn–Catholic History (1770s–1890s) and the Gestation of Vietnamese Catholic National Identity |type=PhD |publisher=Georgetown University |url=https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/1040724 }}

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Category:Buildings and structures in Ninh Bình province

Category:Tourist attractions in Ninh Bình province

Category:Roman Catholic cathedrals in Vietnam

Category:Roman Catholic churches completed in 1891

Category:19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Vietnam

Category:Eclectic architecture

Category:Temples in Vietnam

Category:1891 establishments in Vietnam