Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon

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South east side of the cathedral
Interior of the church

The Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon or Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception ( Vietnamese Nhà Tho Chinh Toa Đức ME Vô Nhiem Nguyên Tôi ) is a Roman Catholic church in the Neo-Romanesque style in Ho Chi Minh City , Vietnam . The cathedral of the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City is consecrated under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God and bears the title of a minor basilica .

history

The church was built for the French colonialists in what was then Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, to hold church services. On October 7, 1877, the Vicar Apostolic of West Cochin Isidor Colombert laid the foundation stone for the cathedral, which replaced the former wooden church, which was much too small and badly damaged by termites. It took three years to build, and on Easter Monday, April 11, 1880, the building was opened with a ceremony. The church became the seat of the Vicariate Apostolic West Cochin, from which the present Archdiocese emerged in 1965. Already in 1962 the church received from Pope John XXIII. awarded the rank of minor basilica .

Church building

The church can accommodate 1200 people. All building material comes from France. For example, the outer wall was built with red bricks from Marseille. In 1895 the two towers were added. Each tower is 57.6 meters high and has six bronze bells, the larger six are by Amédée Bollée . The crosses at the top of the towers are 3.5 meters high and 2 meters wide. The church has 56 stained glass windows, only two of which are original. The organ , which was last restored in 1992, has 7374 pipes, 900 of which are considered historic. These form 110 registers and are played with five manuals with 56 keys and a pedal with 32 keys; it is currently not playable (2018).

On June 29, 2017, on the occasion of the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul, the then Archbishop of Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City Paul Bùi Văn Đọc announced that the cathedral would be extensively renovated. As with the construction, the building materials come from Europe. The roof, which is to be completely renovated, consists of three different types of brick, which come from Monier from France and Meyer-Holsen from Germany. The wooden beams on the roof are made of Cambodian wood of the hopea helferi variety by the Đinh Thành company. The rain gutter and the roofs of the two church towers are made by VMZINC from Belgium. The building plaster comes from the German quick-mix group. In addition, parts of the glass windows are to be renovated with the help of French experts from Chartres. The installation of two new bells is also planned. According to Vicar General Ignatius Hồ Văn Xuân, the entire renovation has so far cost around 89 billion Vietnamese dong (the equivalent of 3.36 million euros). At a meeting with the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City in December 2018, the building permit was extended by three years until 2023.

Web links

Commons : Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Rosario Templo de Santo Domingo on gcatholic.org
  2. ↑ Báo cáo tổng quát của Ban Trùng Tu Nhà thờ Chính tòa Sài Gòn |. Retrieved January 28, 2019 .

Coordinates: 10 ° 46 ′ 47.3 "  N , 106 ° 41 ′ 56.3"  E