The most beautiful church in Guangdong, known as "Notre Dame de Paris in the Far East"!119

A few days ago, the 800-year-old Notre Dame de Paris was once again destroyed by fire. Although this is not the first time that Notre Dame de Paris has been destroyed by fire - it has been burned four times in its history - it is a great pity to see such a beautiful building of unparalleled historical significance being engulfed in flames.
Christianity was introduced to China as early as the Tang Dynasty, but then interrupted for a time. In modern times, a large number of missionaries came to China and built many fine churches, and in Guangdong, and indeed in China, the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in the Stone Chamber of Guangzhou is a very stunning Catholic church. The Stone Chamber is not only the only all-granite Gothic church in China but also the largest Gothic building in China.
It is said that there are four all-stone Gothic churches in the world, two of which are the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of the Stone Chamber in Guangzhou and Notre Dame de Paris, and there are many similarities between the two churches. It is thought that because the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of the Stone Chamber was designed in 1863, during the time when Le Duc was presiding over the extensive repairs to Notre Dame de Paris, the two French architects who designed the Stone Chamber took inspiration from Notre Dame de Paris, and so there is a replica of Notre Dame de Paris in faraway Guangzhou.

Located on Yide Road in Guangzhou, the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart is the grandest and most distinctive cathedral in the Catholic Diocese of Guangzhou and is known as the 'Notre Dame de Paris of the Far East.

The church was named Sacred Heart Cathedral because the official foundation stone laying ceremony took place on 28 June 1863, the date of the Catholic celebration of the Sacred Heart, and was completed in 1888, a period of 25 years. The church is also known as the Stone Room, or Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in the Stone Room, and the Stone Room Catholic Church, as all the walls and columns are made of granite stone.

There are many European architectural styles, but the Gothic style can be understood at a glance, from the outside it is a high spire, and from the inside, it is a huge splendid glass painting on the windows. The Stone Room is really similar to Notre Dame de Paris from the outside, except for the two extra spires.

The most beautiful church in Guangdong is hidden in the wholesale market on Yide Road, a completely urban place.

In 1996, the Stone Chamber Church was listed as a National Key Cultural Heritage Protection Unit.

The Stone Chapel Church is closed to the public on weekdays, but as there are several Masses on Sundays, you can visit the church all day on Sundays, during which you are not allowed to walk around or take photos.

Masses at the Stone Chapel are in Mandarin, Cantonese and English, with Cantonese from Monday to Friday mornings, Mandarin and Cantonese on Saturday evenings, and Cantonese, Mandarin and English Masses on Sundays.

Let's start by going around the church. The building area of the Sacred Heart of the Rock Church is 2754 square metres, 35 metres wide from east to west and 78.69 metres long from north to south, with a height of 58.5 metres from the tip of the tower to the ground, so it's enough to go around the church for about ten minutes to take photos.

The church was built entirely of granite, which is not produced in Guangzhou, so the church used all the hemp stones extracted from Ngau Tau Kok and Cha Kwo Ling in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The stones were transported to Guangzhou by sailing ship, chiselled, lifted and glued by hand.

Quarrying stones from Hong Kong to supply Guangzhou? Yes, in the 1860s, Hong Kong and Guangzhou were small fishing villages and big cities.

The foundation stones are located on the east and west sides of the church: on the east side the Latin word 'Jerusalem' and on the west side the word 'Rome', which means that Catholicism was founded in Jerusalem in the East and flourished in Rome in the West.

In the centre of the church is the stained-glass rose window, which is not too impressive when viewed from the outside, but is splendid when viewed from the inside.

You can see that the spouts on the roof of the stone church are in the shape of Chinese lions. In fact, as the French architects did not speak the language of the locals, the real director of the church was Cai Xiao, a Hakka, a stonemason from Jiexi, Guangdong, so there are many Chinese elements incorporated into the strange Gothic building that you can see now.

As in this picture, with Jesus looking up at the mangoes, Catholicism from the West took root in Lingnan, China, and a very purely European Catholic church stood for over 100 years in mango-filled Guangzhou.

The founder of the Sacred Heart Cathedral was the French missionary Ming Jizhang, who returned to France to see the French Emperor Napoleon III and was granted 500,000 francs.

Sacred Heart Cathedral has almost all the elements of a Gothic church, from the stained rose windows and see-through doors of the earlier style, to the twin bell-tower spires of the middle and later periods, as well as the spire vaults, flying buttresses and stone columns.

After Mass, I began to photograph the interior of the church, which is magnificent, but the most striking feature is the stained glass painted with biblical stories.

The story of the glass is quite a story. The Stone Room has seen two major disasters, one during the war against Japan when a Japanese plane hit the lightning rod at the top of the tower and exploded into the Cang Hai Tea House in front of the church, shattering some of the Napoleonic stained glass.

During the Cultural Revolution, all the religious paintings were torn out of the stone room, some of the Napoleonic stained glass left after the war was broken, the windows were shattered, and all the wooden chairs, biblical documents, archives and even the expensive organ were piled up and burned in the church.

It is said that the Red Guards were prepared to blow up the stone room, but had to stop because it was too strong and that during the Cultural Revolution it became a rubbish disposal site for a time.

In July 1979, the policy of religious belief was re-implemented and the Stone Room was later opened, but the broken stained glass had to be replaced by the ordinary glass until July 2004, when the Stone Room Church was renovated for the third time, at a cost of 20 million yuan, the highlight of which was the replacement of all 98 special glass panels, custom-made from the Philippines, which were "worth more than gold" and cost 4.3 million yuan for 700 square metres.

The glass images are based on stories and characters from the Old and New Testaments, and depict some 60 biblical stories, including the Nativity, the Baptism and the Last Supper, but the most gorgeous is the circular rose window carved out of stone in the middle of the first floor.

The sunlight filtering through the stained glass brings light into the dark interior of the church and projects images of the biblical stories into the hearts and minds of the people.

The church is at its most beautiful when everyone leaves after mass, with the lights on full blast and the dramatically rising pointed arches, giving the impression of rising upwards.

Every church is a work of art, and Sacred Heart Catholic Church in the Stone Room is certainly one of those exceptionally beautiful works of art.

It is important to dress modestly when entering the church, whether for a visit or a mass.

If you are wearing shorts and suspenders, the volunteers will give you a blue cloth to wrap around you when you enter the church.

A simple wrap will turn your shorts into a skirt, which is a great effect.

The black brothers came from far and wide to Guangzhou to seek gold, kneeling long before Jesus.

The church has always been a blend of East and West, and today Guangzhou is a cosmopolitan city with the largest number of gold-seekers, especially from Black Africa, so it is not uncommon to see groups of black people attending religious services here.

Jesus opened his arms wide, "Come to me, all you who labour and are heavily laden, and I will give you rest!" The Lord's call knows no colour, no race, no age, no status, no wealth.
When I arrived at the Stone Chapel Church, a Mass was in progress, with thousands of people singing hymns of exceptional beauty, and one's mind felt a special peace in the presence of religion. Religion, which has lasted for thousands of years, has a powerful force that will guide mankind to discipline itself and embrace goodness, whether in the past, present or future.
The churches that exist in China, although not as old and spectacular as those in Europe, do have many fine buildings worth visiting, such as the Sacred Heart of the Rock Cathedral in Guangzhou, the Xishku Church in Beijing, the Wangfujing Catholic Church in Beijing, the Xikai Church in Tianjin, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Sheshan in Shanghai, the Xujiahui Catholic Church in Shanghai, the Hongjialou Catholic Church in Jinan, the Deqin Tizhong Church in Yunnan Province, the Hohhot Catholic Church, the Qingdao Catholic Church, the Sophia Church in Harbin, the Jilin Catholic Church, the Nanguan Catholic Church in Shenyang, the Cathedral of St. Michael in Qiqihar, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Hong Kong and so on.