Phat Diem Cathedral
is 130 kilometers South of Hanoi. A priest named Tran Luc
built it between 1875 and 1899
The Phat Diem Cathedral site encloses many Chapels built in
oriental style. A lake leads to a kind of
atrium called Phuong Dinh
and to the Catherdral itself. The Catedral is surrounded by
four Chapels, three artificial grottos and a stone Shrine
On a tiny islet in the middle of the retangular lake recigns
a tall white statue of Christ the King
Phuong Dinh is an imposing stone structure 24 metres long,
17 metres wide and 25 metres high. Stone low relief are to
be seen
inside as well as outside. On it its top are hanging a big
drum and a big bell weighing about two tons. It was cast a
hundred
years ago
The Cathedral is 74 metres long
and 21 metres wide. It has four roofs resting on six ranks
of wood pillars. The two middle ranks have 16 pillars each
eleven metres high, 2.35m in circumference. Each of them is
the trunk of a single tree. The high altar was cut in a single
block of stone (3 metres long, 90 centimetres large and 80
centimetres high) and carved on its three sides. The back
of the high altar is made of chiselled wocdworks lacquered
and gilt
On both sides of the Cathedral
four Chapels mount the guard of honour. Each one has a
different style. At the far end rise three stone grottos,
the most beautiful of them is that of
Our Lady of Lourdes. Finally, on the North-West corner of
the site rises the jewel of the
whole complex: it is popularly called the Stone Chapel because
all its carts are made of
stone: walls, columns, beams, windows and towers
Phat Diem Cathedral through the ups and downs of a hundred
years of its existence has
always been welcoming worshippers and visitors from the world
all over.
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