SoleSky

For the sake of GFW, Google Picasa web album is still locked up at China. Get tired for waiting, I bypassed that damn thing via modifying my /etc/host file and fetched my pictures on Picasa again. Among those pictures, I found a special album, the photos taken at “Stone House” Cathedral.

Guess where has I been? Maybe you would say France, UK, European Countries, USA or….
But… actually, I didn’t made any foreign trip before. Here is still where I am now, at Canton , south of China.

So let me show you the position where we go now.
The “Stone House” cathedral is located at 56 Yide Lu (or Yat Tak Road), Canton. Being on the north bank of the Pearl River, the cathedral stands at the heart of the busy old district. The cathedral, like most of the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe, is built of solid masonry, including the vaulted roof and the towers. The stone used for the building is granite. For this reason, it is nicknamed “Stone House” (石室) by local people.

Then “Stone House” is just the nick name of it, the really name of this cathedral is “Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus”, also known as Sacred Heart Cathedral. The site of the cathedral was originally the residence of the Viceroy of Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces (兩廣總督) in the Qing Dynasty.

Is it like those cathedrals at Paris? I think anyone came here would confused whether he is at France. Actually, the fact is this cathedral was really built as the same way like those ones at Paris. Though it is widely said that the design was based on the Notre Dame de Paris and sometimes it is referred to as the “Notre Dame in the Far East”, the cathedral was actually inspired by the Basilica of St. Clotilde in Paris. Covering an area of 2,754 square metres, it is the largest Roman Catholic church in the Guangzhou archdiocese and the largest cathedral in the Gothic style in China and Southeast Asia. The cathedral is 35 metres wide, 78.69 metres long, and the twin towers rise as high as 58.5 metres. The west tower is a clock tower while the east tower serves as a bell tower, inside which there are five gigantic bronze bells shipped in from France in the 19th century.

So let’s wander around outside first~

The clock tower~~

We discovered these two famous stones:
The foundation of the cathedral was laid on June 18, 1863, the Feast of the Sacred Heart, and work began on August 26. The ground breaking ceremony was held on December 8 of the same year. Two foundation stones were laid. The Latin words “Jerusalem 1863″ were engraved on the east one and the words “Roma 1863″ on the west one, stating that the Roman Catholic Church had its origin in Jerusalem in the east and evolved in Rome in the west. From each city, one kilogram of soil was taken to be combined and laid under the two foundation stones.

Fortunately, we were allowed to enter the cathedral. Tough I am not a catholic, I still got shocked by the holiness.

Fantasy windows with colorful glass Just like those in great cathedral in the West. The solar comes through it and changes into beautiful multi-color ray.

It said that Sacred Heart Cathedral is one of the four Gothic Cathedrals with total rock architecture in the world. “Stone House” has been one famous sight spot. And as the largest Roman Catholic church in the Guangzhou archdiocese, many catholics, includes lots of foreigners come here for worships. In deed, we met quite a lot of them.