# churches and cathedrals in vietnam



## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

*Technical difficulties, this thread will now start at page 4 *


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

could someone show me how to delete all my posts? I'm reorganizing everything starting at page 4


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## pnguyen (Aug 12, 2006)

I like Phu Nhai church the most.


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## vkameleon (Jul 15, 2004)

just another products of french colonialism -_-


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## jadebench (Jun 17, 2006)

wow, vietnam got beautiful catholic churches too just like the Philippines!


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

pnguyen
phu nhai sure is big but that's not the most magnificent one
wait and see....more comming

wantuhoa you have your temple thread post us some thing....
i'm thinking about beauty and architecture......don't take us away from that....thank you


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## VietnamCalling (Aug 3, 2006)

I like Buddhist Temple and Islamic Mosque architectures better


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## Saigoneseguy (Mar 6, 2005)

There are 4 mosques and 4 hindu temples in central saigon alone, i'll take pics


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## Saigoneseguy (Mar 6, 2005)

Wait....ur links ain't work , bang ....

Oh, I should have been guessed.... catholic.org is banned in Vietnam


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## chinatown (Nov 8, 2005)

do u hav any pic of Lavang the scacred church??


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## overtureph (Jun 10, 2005)

I didn't know that Vietnam have many beautiful churches.


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

yes I have pictures of Lavang cathedral (or basillica) before and after it was bombed.

vn has 25 dioceses, so we have 25 cathedrals....cathedral is pretty much the same as church, it's just that cathedral has a throne of the bishop.

Each diocese has atleast 1 bishop and 1 arch bishop....again, cathedral-church, bishop - arch bishop, they're pretty much the same, they're just the tittle. Cardinal is a higher rank than bishop, 1 step next to the pope.....I think VN has 5 cardinals

Lavang is a Holy site
Tra Kieu is a sacred site
both acknowledge by the Vatican.

there are 4 major basillicas in the world and they're all in Rome, all other basillicas in the world are "minor basillicas" 

Vn has 2 basillicas: SAigon NotreDame basillica and Lavang basillica...........although Lavang has only the tower left after the war.
To receive the tittle "basilica" by the Vatican, the church building has to be in Criss-cross Romanesque architecture with remarkable history attached to it.

in Vnmese the term basilica translates to: Vuong Cung Thanh Duong


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## chinatown (Nov 8, 2005)

hey bum,i nv know u'r that knowledgable about Churches,i bet u'r a gud sheep rite?? im also a Catholic and my grandma's cousin was the Cardinal in Rome (Hong Y Nguyen Van Thuan,passed away 3 years ago and u must've known it if u'r a faithful Catholic) the soon-to-be Cardinal,father Kie^.t (i dun remember his full name) is also my grandpa's friend,i met him once.


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## starboy (Mar 6, 2006)

*Phat Diem Stone Church*

The unique church in Vietnam:


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## tq (Dec 27, 2004)

starboy said:


> The unique church in Vietnam:


hey I was yesterday there...very beautiful church but as I said my camera was broken so I couldn't take any photos...such a pity...


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## pnguyen (Aug 12, 2006)

Wow, I didn't know Vietnam has so many churches. Some of them are very nice, except they certainly need renovation and new paintings. Too bad, Vietna m is still so poor, probably why some churches are still in bad shapes 

Now, I know why so many Catholic priests coming so often to the US from Vietnam to ask for donations, nowadays. I will, and I hope Catholic followers in this forum, remind myself the church pictures here, and will donate much more than I used to give. Churches need to be renovated. It is really for a good cause.

Thanks bang for taking time to post beautiful pictures here. It's amazing how you have so many. You're :nocrook: :applause:


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## chinatown (Nov 8, 2005)

bang said:


> are you kidding me chinatown
> 
> just so ya know I'm not an architect but i know way more about it than some architect students.
> 
> ...


yeah that was a great loss...but non-Catholic ppl in VN im sure they dun know'bout diz coz de communist gov prevented de news to spread over (not any single newspaper had the news about this,ppl could only know this from churches or by BBC),coz he has the title 'ke phan quoc' given by de commu & was expelled.If i discuz diz more,surely sum handsome guys wont b happy so i stop here.


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

correction: Ninh Binh is a province not a diocese.....Ninhbinh is under Phatdiem diocese.

I only have pictures of Ninh Binh for now from the internet.
other provinces in northern Vietnam with the same equivalent with Ninh Binh in term of old beautiful churches are: Ha Tay, Nam Dinh, Hanoi, Bui Chu, Ha Nam Ninh, Lao Cai.

so what i'm posting here are only fraction of what VN has to offer.

visit this website to see we're not the only one interested in churches in Vietnam
http://theprompt.faithweb.com/vietnam3.htm


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## Rajah_Soliman (Aug 29, 2005)

question: is there religious freedom in vn? 

the pix are awesome


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## blue_milkyway88 (Jan 24, 2006)

Woahhhhh!!!!!! you got so many pics of beautiful churches in Viet Nam with ancient architecture very excellent are you religious Buddha bang?


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

quang an church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

phuong thuong church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

phu hau church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Phuc nhac church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Phuc Lai church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Phuc Hai church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Nui Kha Du church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Nhu Tan church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Nhu SOn church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Nho Lam church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Nam Bien church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

nha gan church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

muu giap church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

moc giap church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

mong huu church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

minh nghia church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

manhan church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

mabao church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

luutap church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

linh khoan church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

hiep chua church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

hiep ao church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

hao pha church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

hao can church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

ham phu church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

hai xuan church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

hai nap church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

giao sam church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

duy hao church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

duong deim church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

duc duc church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

dongchua church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

di ninh church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

dinh di church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

cung hau church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

cach tam church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

binh thuong church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

binh hao church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

binh hai church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

bachlien church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

ang son church









My Ninh Binh collection is finished.....there are lots more churches in Ninh BInh, but that's all I have for Ninh BInh.

moving on to another province


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Phuong Chinh church in Nam Dinh province
beautiful dome and interior, with wooden ceiling like those halls in England's Windsor castle, unlike the typical gothic or romaneques ceiling vaults in churches in vn.
this is among many new churches built in VN in recent years......Phuong Chinh church built in 1998 is the 3rd church on site since 1900.

it's true what they say: VN is poor in everything but faith.

in small villages where people don't have enough to eat, they have the will to put up grand and opulent houses for God.


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

this picture reminds me of that Christmas song "Giac tran ve que huong toi, giac diet niem tin Kito, dat nuoc nay day, sang duc tin Chua tren troi cao"
this picture is copyrighted but i hope the owner of this picture understands when he see mee posting this

they can kill anything and destroy everything but not the faith of people in Vietnam.
phuong chinh church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Bac Tinh church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Bac Tinh2


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Bac Tinh dome


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

bac Tinh interior


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Phu Nhai church interior (the first church I posted in this thread....page 4)
Vn has 117 saints and martyrs........and Phu Nhai is home to 19 of them.


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

phunhai interior 2


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

about 6-7yrs ago i watched a hongkong horor movie....with a scene shot outside of this church.......I thought this was a church in China, because there were a lot of chinese scriptures engraved outside and inside the church.

Later I found out this is a Vietnamese "Dai On" church in the province of Ha Tay.

this church has a beautiful dome, the rear is heavenly with 3 parts, the aisles, nave and the central dome stacking on top of each other, but you can't see the dome from the front.


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Tra Co church was bombed, fortunately, the tower and the dome remain intact, now they rebuilt it....


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Tra co 2


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Tra co3


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

tra co4


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

like I said earlier, many people mistaken chritianity was brought in VN by the French during their invasion, but Christianity was introduced to VN by the spanish and portuguese long before the French came. Therefore, besides French church buildings.....VN is also home to many spanish and portuguese church architectures......you can find a lot of them in Nam Dinh province.

Bui Chu cathedral, (spanish architecture)


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

phuong chinh cathedral interior


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

simple but elegant 
Vietnam, her people and her faith


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Welcome to Nam Dinh province!

WHo would have thought richly ornate spanish churches found in europe and south america continents exist in Vietnam?

....or Spanish and portuguese colonies such as Philipines and Macao 
but if you're curious about this style in Vietnam then see the few examples below

and if you're Vietnamese and had only Phatdiem in mind, think again. 
rich and spectacular Vietnamese church buildings are everywhere in northern vietnam, Phatdiem is just the mother church of all churches.



Xuan ha church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Xuan Ha interior


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Xuan Ha 3


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## skidlin (Aug 1, 2006)

really appreciate your effort bang, i didn't mean to ask you to reorganize everything, just was referring to your future posts, but thanks for your work very superbly posted.


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## chinatown (Nov 8, 2005)

we appreciate wat u did,boom.


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

hello again, actually this way is easier for me too.
After seeing Hoangduong photos of Hanoi, I couldn't help but think, these churches are only being captured in 1 single snap of the main building, if you combined HoangDuong talent with jaro, tq and LS passion we will have so much awe inspiring images of these churches 

visit this website and see professional pictures of VN from north to south

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/Vietnam/photo198002.htm

Bac Giang church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Bac Ninh main cathedral
this cathedral was a big spanish complex with complete ornately decorative spanish gate, school, and chapel...unfortunately everything got demolished or bombed? and all it's left now is the main church building.


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

LangSon main cathedral
this cathedral gives me mixed feeling.....the orginal French church was very big, I have the old picture, and you can see a small image of it on the page.....but it got bombed...now they replaced it with an asian building...it doesn't looked Vnmese to me.


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

all of the parish churches in Langson


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Hon Gai church in HaLong bay....i think this church stands on top of "con gau" mountain


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

LangSOn cathedral before it was bombed


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

HonGai church before it was rebuilt


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

so far these are the old historical french churches that got bombed from my counting:
-Go Thi
-Tra co
-Hon Gai
-Lang Son cathedral
-Tam Toa
-La Vang basillica
-Tra Kieu
-Ben Tre
-Vinh cathedral
-Long Kha
-Vo Hot
-Chan Ninh
-Do Son
-Long An
-Phu Ly
-My Tuc
-Thuy Tru
-Dong Dang
-Ba Vi
-Thai Binh cathedral
-Quan Vinh
-Muu Giap
-Lang Co
-Mang Lang
-Thi Nghe
-Cau Kho
-Di Linh
-VInh Long cathedral
-Long Xuyen cathedral
-Hon Chong
-Ong Dao

so many more that we don't have the accurate infos.....just do the math, "Vietnam war" is the only war that the America call "the 10.000 days war"....each year we only have 365 days.....but they used Vietnam soil for testing American nuclear weapons and Russian communism ideology and raging the country over 10.000 days.

ps. some people may not notices this, but Saigon basillica also got bombed on 1 bell tower, that's why if you visit it now you will see some windows are clear glass instead of stained glass.


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## FrancisXavier (Jan 13, 2006)

hala, i am surprised.. So there are alot of catholics in vietman?


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## JustHorace (Dec 17, 2005)

^^Vietnam is largely non-religious. Yet I heard that Catholicism is very vibrant there. In fact, the clergy here in the Philippines is being slowly replaced by the Vietnamese and Burmese.

Anyway, great thread you have here! I thought VN only had the Notre Dame in SGN as their only cathedral. And my, those churches are gorgeous...and mostly gothic.


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## Baria (Aug 20, 2005)

cosmoManila said:


> ^^Vietnam is largely non-religious. Yet I heard that Catholicism is very vibrant there. In fact, the clergy here in the Philippines is being slowly replaced by the Vietnamese and Burmese


Vietnamese are not non-religious. We have many other major religions beside Catholic.


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## Baria (Aug 20, 2005)

cosmoManila said:


> ^^Vietnam is largely non-religious. Yet I heard that Catholicism is very vibrant there. In fact, the clergy here in the Philippines is being slowly replaced by the Vietnamese and Burmese


Vietnamese are not non-religious. The vast majority belongs to many other major religions beside Catholic.


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

"largely non religious" that's true!

8-10% catholic, 40% budhism, 1-2% others (Protestant, Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, Muslim, Hindu)........so the rest are non religious.

However I only trust the catholic estimation, because all parish churches keeping documents of baptized babies, newlyweds etc.....
therefore they know for sure how many catholics they have in each parish.

I've visited many churches in VN, they all have libraries documented of the deceases, new born babies, new converters, newlyweds, catholic family lineage etc.......basically they keep your family history better than yourself. 
My family had to go to the priest and asked for my great grand parents names. The date my grandparents got married.


I don;t think they do that with budhist, plus you are not obligated to attend religious service in temple....so it's hard to tell the accurate percentage of Vietnamese budhism. Who knows, could be between 40-80%

Yen Bai church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

people don't think of VN as the land of churches and cathedrals.

but lets not forget what they say....."the British colonized other countries with opiums, the French colonized by building churches."

I bet you cannot find 1 former French colony without a church.

PnomPenh and Cambodia in general had lots of churches too, but the war and the red Khmer regime detroyed most of them.
I still feel the lost for the big art deco cathedral of Pnom Penh..so big and imposing with 2 tall bell towers.

Ke Sac church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Phu Tho province

No Luc church

Ke Sac church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Phu Tho province
Phu Tho church
Nothing rich or glamourous like other Vietnamese style churches I posted earlier, but its seems so petit delicate


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

An Toan church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Hai DUong province
Hai Duong church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Another vietnamese style

Tan Kim church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Tan Kim hall


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Ke So church
read it's history......it used to be the main arch diocese cathedral until they had built Hanoi cathedral.........the 2 churches look the same ey? Ke So is more wider than st. Joseph cathedral in Hanoi........if you take away the bell towers, this one looks a lot like the Milan cathedral in Italy


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

more of Ke So, pretty big building, enough for 4-5 thousands people


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

*đóng cửa nói chuyện chút xíu.*

Những gì ta nói về nhà thờ hay post hình nhiều người VN chắc đã biết. Nhưng ta post cho những người chưa biết, nói cho những người chưa biết. nhất là những người nước ngoài. 

Ta đang làm quảng cáo du lịch cho ViệtNam có biết không? xin đừng phá hoại công việc quảng cáo du lịch của ta. Khách du lịch tới VN với nhiều lý do. người Pháp muốn thăm Hanội, Điện Biên Phủ, người Mỹ muốn thăm Saigòn , Củ Chi, người Nhật muốn thăm Hội An, người Trung QUốc muốn thăm Huế, CHơ Lớn vv....tuỳ loại khách du lịch mà người ta làm quảng cáo.

làm cái thread này ta phải vào nhiều forums của Á Châu, Âu Châu, Mỹ Châu, để giới thiệu, ta phải nói bậy với người ta, nhiều khi chẳng biết người ta đang nói cái quái gì......nhiều khi thấy kiến trúc của nước người ta xấu chết cha chết me luôn, ta cũng phải nói, WOW, đẹp wá, và xin mời tới forum việtnam coi hình nhà thờ.

thành ra ta mong đừng ai nói chuyện vô duyên với ta, ta không có đi rao giảng Đạo, nhưng nếu ta mang được một số khách du lịch tới VN để hành hương thăm nhà thờ VN, thăm những thánh địa La Vang, Trà Kiệu , thì VN cũng có thêm một số du khách 

mỗi năm những nơi như Pháp, Mexico, Ireland, Canada, Rome, và những nước trên thế giới có biết bao nhiêu triệu khách du lịch đi hành hương tới những nhà thờ đẹp, linh, đi hành hương Đức Mẹ. 

Thế giới có 1 tỷ người Thiên Chúa Giáo......Việt Nam cũng có một lịch sử Thiên Chúa Giáo hơn 450 năm, nhưng tiếc là CS Việt nam "vô thần" nên Giáo Hội Việt Nam bị gọi là "Giáo Hội Thầm Lặng" .........nhưng quên đi Đạo, mà chỉ tính tới bao nhiêu triệu khách du lịch Thiên Chúa Giáo bị mất vì người ta không biết nhiều về Thiên Chúa Giáo Việtnam.

Vietnam Church, the suffering Church (Vatican)


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## VietnamCalling (Aug 3, 2006)

Of Christian Church, Buddhist Temple (Mahayana and Theravada), Hindu Temple and Islamic Mosque architecture, I'm most fond of Mosque architecture, then Mahayana Temple and Theravada Temple. Never liked Hindu Temple and Christian Church architecture and probably never will.


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

VietnamCalling said:


> Of Christian Church, Buddhist Temple (Mahayana and Theravada), Hindu Temple and Islamic Mosque architecture, I'm most fond of Mosque architecture, then Mahayana Temple and Theravada Temple. Never liked Hindu Temple and Christian Church architecture and probably never will.


I don't usually quote people 
however.....great to know how you feel!

try to walk in a Pho restaurant and say "i don't like Pho"

people selling Pho, you like it you buy, you don't like it you walk to Banh Xeo, or Banh Beo......don't sabotage the Pho restaurant.

I like all architectures.....I bought books on all kinds of buildings and architectures, from churches, mosques, temple, bridges, world skyscrappers, Vietnamese palaces, churches, temples, communial hall (dinh lang)

but i promise you I will update this thread, I also have a big book on Vietnamese temples and won't open a thread on temples, and propably never will.


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Phu Da Church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Phu Da 2


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

trac but church


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## coolink (Apr 20, 2005)

Trac But and Phu Ly church


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## kevo123 (Nov 30, 2012)

interesting church!
i like churches, temples, mosques, palaces and most fond of any kind of traditional architecture!
the interesting thing here is that even after the colonial times has passed, Vietnam continue to build beautiful churches in European style


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