Phat Diem - The most unique, mysterious cathedral in the world

Experiencing bombs of war, the church population is still standing firmly, with the mystery deep in the sanctuary, the tombs, pillars ...
The most unique in the world

At the parking lot, we were instructed by Joseph Nguyen Van Tuyen, the monk (the teacher), to park the car at the designated place and then to the guide registration desk. All services from the car to guide here are free of charge, volunteer teachers and servants themselves.

Along with us there was a study delegation from some universities in Tokyo (Japan), and the delegation was led by the same monks to visit the church very enthusiastic, introduced in English very fluent At first sight, many visitors mistakenly thought that this was a large temple, due to the fact that the Phat Diem Cathedral population was designed according to Buddhist temple motifs with three doors, five doors, curved roofs.

Explaining more about this, Tu Tuyen said that the founder of the unique temple is Father Tran Luc (real name Triem, nickname Six, born in 1825 in My Quan village, Nga Son district, Sanctify).

Researchers are exploring the value of the bell. Photo: Minh Duc

During 34 years of Phat Diem parish, Father Tran Luc organized three artificial caves, five small chapels, including a stone altar (also known as stone church) . In addition, there is a large church and bell tower (Phuong Dinh). To build Phat Diem Cathedral, Father Tran Luc spent 10 years shopping, preparing materials, the wood was taken in Ben Thuy (Nghe An), 200 km from Phat Diem and from Hoi Xuan (Thanh Hoa).

Mr. Tuyen took us to Phuong Dinh area, only stone blocks weighing tens of tons and explained, Phuong Dinh means "square house", shaped like a large communal house that empty, size is almost square ; 21m wide, 17m deep, 25m high, has 3 floors. The largest downstairs, built entirely of square blue stone, divided into three lobes, in each heart there is a collapse.

It is a mass of 4.2m in length, 3.2m in width, 0.3m in thickness. Legend of the king of the Ho Dynasty (1400-1407) in Tay Giai (Thanh Hoa) is legend. On the walls are stone reliefs, carved some saints and rock formations.
At the time of construction, Phuong Dinh did not have the current machinery, so he put the soil into a model, then used the buffalos, elephants to pull the chisel stones and then stacked together. By the time of completing the new earth, to become a monumental architecture, unique. What makes visitors admire when they come here is that the entire Phat Diem Cathedral works completely manual, without any machinery, without an iron tree, or cement bags, but only by the natural materials.

Since there are no modern trucks or boats as of now, most of the materials are added to the rafts, waiting for the tide to go up to Phat Diem.

Phuong Dinh was completed in 1899, the last of Six, and in the opinion of many, it is the masterpiece of the population. Now, this is where the bell set high 1.9 m, diameter 1.1 m, weighs nearly 2 tons. Bell has 4 knobs Xuan, Ha, Thu, East. The sound of the bell is far away, sometimes to 10km people still hear clearly, "Tuyen said.
Lying between Phuong Dinh and the Grand Chapel is a 25m long courtyard, 15m wide, the walls on both sides are beautiful stone curtain. This is also the place where the tomb of Six when he died in 1899.

Sitting on the stone weighing tens of tons, Tuyen said: To calculate the land settlement, Father Tran Luc built the first Belem Cave, then the new foot.
The nails are dug very deep and wide, and then cover a million bamboo stakes, for each stake to the other stake, 20-30m deep until not closed again. After that, people pour the rock and then compacted, the buffalo, the buffalo, the class to another class. Then there is the bamboo, pouring rubble, macadam, then re-lagoon, finally put foundation.

Lying up the column

The parapets of the Grand Cathedral are sculpturally subtle. Photo: Minh Duc
The Cathedral was divided into nine compartments with six columns of ironwood, a total of 52 columns supporting four roofs, including 16 pillars in the middle of the perimeter of 2.6 meters, 11 meters high, weighs 7 tons. Non-Christians in Kim Son often tell each other a story about the construction of huge pillars, that when a column is set up, there is a group of people dressed in white. They came to help build those stone poles.

Thay Tuyen said that Father Tran Luc built the Five Precepts in order to get the fulcrum and pull the stone, the heavy wooden posts tens of tons up, some places to fill the soil, .
There are six tombs of six bishops serving in Phat Diem diocese. There is also a tomb buried with three priests, placed on the eastern rock of the church.

Father Peter Mai Van Vuong (Phat Diem parish) said that bishops, priests with good morals, are the example of light, the laity will be buried in the church. In 1990, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Phat Diem Church, the late Bishop Paul Bui Chu Tao called for "the parishioners of Phat Diem's ​​diocese to try to live virtuous and earnestly, to preserve Phat Diem Cathedral. , Phat Diem Cathedral, the most unique and imposing Catholic architecture in Vietnam, is also a precious cultural heritage of the nation. Once established by the faith and effort of the ancestors, the post-apocalypse now respectfully preserved so that it can later be celebrated for the second hundred years, and for the third time ... ".
Solid before bombs

In 1953, the cannons of the French colonial forces fired at the east end of Phat Diem Basilica, breaking a roof of an ironwood block, but the whole structure was only slightly damaged. On August 15, 1972, US B-52s bombed eight bombs from the Nha Chung area (the head of the church) to the lake area (at the end of the church), but somehow, the building was never rubbed. what

Bom made Phat Diem Cathedral tilt to the north-west 15-20 cm, but do not understand why the church only sag a bit without collapsing. The more strange that about 5 to 7 years later, the church returned to equilibrium as nothing happened.
Miko Suzuki explained that the foundation of Phat Diem Church was designed with many bamboo rafts, like a cushion, the nail was designed to pour into the mind (ie the stones are tilted 45 degrees into the mind), so when it vibrates, it will slip into the mind, hard to collapse ...