While looking for the Foreign Language Bookstore on Wangfujing, the major shopping street in Beijing, I stumbled upon a charming catholic church. Needless to say, I was very surprised to see a church in the vicinity of the Tian’an Men Square and the Forbidden City. The church is only a short walk away from the “heart” of the communist government. The church offers an almost surreal contrast with the hyper commerce that is happening on Wangfujing, aka the Champs Elysees of Beijing. I had just taken a picture of this cool Nike ad mural on my left, while on my right appeared the triple-domed St.Joseph’s Church. Talking about the combination of the old and new in one spot. The church was built in 1655 and rebuilt a few times after being destroyed by earthquakes, fire and during the Boxer Rebellion. It serves mass in the early morning hours, all in Chinese but one service on Sunday morning at 6.30 am is in Latin. The church was closed but I’ll put attending a Latin mass on my-to-experience-list. To be continued.
1 comment:
Paul,
Being an Art History fanatic (liberal arts colleges rock!) I was taught the columns, windows and arches tell when a cathedral was built. This looked Gothic to me so I googled and found:
This gray Gothic structure has endured a torrid history. Built on ground donated by the Shunzhi emperor in 1655, this Jesuit church was toppled by an earthquake in 1720, then gutted by fire in 1812, after which it was leveled by an increasingly anti-foreign regime. It was rebuilt after foreigners forced their way into Beijing in 1860, and was razed again during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900.
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