The Sacred Heart Cathedral, properly the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and also known as the Stone Chamber or Stone House by locals, is a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. It is the seat of the

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

. The cathedral is located at 56 Yide Road (in Chinese: 一德路56号), on the north bank of the

Pearl River The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-a ...

at the heart of the old town. It is one of the few cathedrals in the world to be entirely built of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

, including all the walls, pillars, and the twin towers.

History

The site of the cathedral was originally the residence of the Viceroy of Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces in the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. During the

Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire and the French Emp ...

, the residence was completely destroyed and

Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...

Ye Mingchen was captured by the British. Based on the terms of an imperial edict issued by the Daoguang Emperor in February 1846, which promised compensation for churches destroyed and properties taken from the mission, the Paris Foreign Missions Society, Société des Missions Étrangères de Paris obtained the site by signing an agreement with the Qing government on January 25, 1861. In his decree of approval, the Xianfeng Emperor wrote "from now on, war should be stopped and peace be sincerely kept forever". With financial support from Napoleon III of France, Napoleon III and donations from French Catholics, Bishop Philippe François Zéphirin Guillemin, M.E.P. (), the first vicar apostolic of Guangdong, oversaw the construction project. A French architect from Nancy, France, Nancy, :fr:Léon Vautrin, Léon Vautrin, was asked to design the cathedral, in collaboration with Charles Hyacinthe Humbert, also from Nancy. Humbert and another architect from Paris, Achille-Antoine Hermitte, Antoine Hermitte, who succeeds him at a later time, both travelled to China to oversee the construction of the cathedral. Bishop Guillemin did not get to see completion of the cathedral, as he died at the age of 72 in Paris in 1886, two years before the cathedral was finished. The construction was supervised by his successor, Bishop Augustin Chausse, M.E.P. ().

Construction

Construction of the foundation began on June 28, 1861, Feast of the Sacred Heart, the Feast of the Sacred Heart, and concluded in 1863. On December 8, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, with surrounding Chinese houses and streets decorated, a grand ceremony was held, attended by the Viceroy of Liangguang, all senior Mandarin (bureaucrat), Mandarins, a detachment of 300 Manchu people, Manchu Qing army, troops, all consuls in Canton as well as the missionaries and a score of priests. The bishop and the consul of France, Baron Gilbert de Trenqualye, delivered speeches. Two foundation stones were blessed and laid. The words "Jerusalem 1863" were engraved on the east one and "Roma 1863" on the west one, in reference to the Catholic Church's origin in Jerusalem in the east and headed on Earth by the Pope in Rome in the west. One kilogram of soil taken from Rome and one stone from Jerusalem were laid under the respective foundation stones. The construction of the cathedral turned out to be very challenging, mostly because of its all-

structure and the lack of machinery, which meant the cathedral had to be built by hand. None of the Chinese workers at that time had seen a western cathedral before, not to mention had any experience of building one. Communication was another major problem when the French and the Chinese didn't speak the other language. The construction progress was slow for the first few years. Eventually the French employed a Chinese named Cai Xiao () from Jiexi County as Construction foreman, foreman. Cai had many years of experience in building stone houses in his hometown, which enabled him to bring in a lot of unique and creative methods. He barely left the site since being employed. The construction of the cathedral took most of his youth but was able to be finished in his lifetime. The cathedral was mostly funded by Napoleon III of France, Napoleon III. When bishop Guillemin met him in Paris in 1858, the emperor, urged by his wife Eugénie de Montijo, Eugénie, offered a personal grant of 500,000 francs. In 1873, a bill was passed in the National Assembly of France with 491 ayes against 100 nays, allocating another 75,000 francs to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (France), Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be used on the cathedral. The cathedral was finished in 1888 after 25 years of construction.

Architecture

The façade of the cathedral was modelled on the Basilica of St. Clotilde, Paris, Basilica of St. Clotilde in Paris and its nave and apse were inspired by the Toul Cathedral. The cathedral features a nave of 28.2 metres high, flanked by two lower Aisle#Cathedral architecture, aisles and 14 small Chapel, side-chapels. With a floor area of 2,924 square metres, it is the largest Roman Catholic church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Guangzhou, Guangzhou archdiocese and the largest cathedral in the Gothic architecture, Gothic style in

and Southeast Asia. The cathedral is 32.85 metres wide, 77.17 metres long, and the twin towers rise 52.76 metres high. The west tower is a clock tower while the east tower serves as a bell tower, inside which there used to be five large bells shipped in from France in the 19th century, although nowadays only four remain as one was given to a local church in Guangxi province in the early 1980s. The cathedral, like most of the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe, is built of solid masonry. It is one of the few churches in the world to be entirely built of granite, including all the walls, pillars and the twin towers. The stones were extracted from the quarries of the Four hills of KowloonFour hills of Kowloon
at ProjecTerrae and were transported from Kowloon, Hong Kong by sailing ships.

Repairs

Since its completion in 1888, the cathedral has undergone three major repairs. The first time was in the 1920s and 1930s, when then Bishop Antoine-Pierre-Jean Fourquet, M.E.P. (), replaced the timber roof, beams and steel staircases with concrete ones. A second repair took place after the Cultural Revolution in the 1980s. Recently between 2004 and 2006 the largest repair works were carried out. The church paid Renminbi, ¥3 million and local Catholics donated about Renminbi, ¥2 million for the Renminbi, ¥26 million project, while the rest was covered by the local government. The aim of the restoration was to solve the problem of leakage by rebuilding the whole roof, which was the most challenging task as the rib vault below needed to remain untouched and intact. Most of 19th century stained glass was damaged during wartime and smashed in the Cultural Revolution, so new stained glass was ordered from a Philippine company specialising in church glass. It resulted in the new stained glass carrying English descriptions instead of Latin and French texts of the original French glass. New lighting, audio and Closed-circuit television, CCTV systems were also installed. The original French mechanical clock has long gone, so a new 750,000-Renminbi, yuan clock tailored for the clock tower was ordered from a Chinese clock factory.

Mass times

Weekdays: 06:45 (Cantonese)
Saturday: 06:45 (Cantonese), 16:00 (Korean language, Korean), 19:30 (Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin)
Sunday: 07:00 (Cantonese), 08:30 (Cantonese), 10:30 (Mandarin), 15:30 (English language, English)

Gallery

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References

---- * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sacred Heart Cathedral Of Guangzhou Roman Catholic cathedrals in China Churches in Guangzhou Yuexiu District Gothic Revival church buildings in China Roman Catholic churches in Guangdong Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Guangdong