Dalat Cathedral
Tran Phu Street, Town Centre, Dalat, Vietnam
With French classical architectural style, Dalat Cathedral is both the largest church in the city and most typical religious works of Lam Dong province. Here, tourists have a chance to immerse in peaceful world, away from the dust of urban life.
Also known as Chicken Church Dalat with a statue of a huge chicken on top of the bell tower, Dalat Cathedral is one of the famous Catholic Churches in Vietnam attracting tourists. Not only is it the largest church in Dalat city, Dalat Cathedral is one of the most famous and ancient architectural works which the French had left in this romantic city. Located in a beautiful location with its incredibly poetic scenery, Dalat Cathedral both is an enchanting tourist attraction in Dalat and stores the significance as a sacred place for penancing and praying.
Located on Tran Phu Street, Dalat Cathedral is the largest religious architectural works in Dalat city, characterizing Roman architectural style. Roman style is extremely popular in Catholic churches including church - city architecture and church - the monastery architecture. The church - city architecture often retains relatively simple shapes, uneven surfaces and few gaudy decorative motifs. Chicken Church owns typical features of the European architectural model. The textures are simply designed with balanced composition and harmony among the lines. The pillars inspired with classical architectural style are symmetrically located together along the four sides surrounding the cathedral. The interior of the Cathedral also possesses typical arch-shaped of Roman architecture: strong and decisive. It is the unique architecture that has brought the Cathedral to become one of the most tourist Dalat attractions alluring tourists.
Dalat Cathedral began its construction from 1931 and finished in 1942. The church was built under the cross shape with its length of 65m and 14m wide. The bell tower is 47m high. Standing at the elevation of the bell tower, tourists have a chance take a panoramic view of whole city. The main entrance of the church is towards Lang Biang Mountain. The church is divided into 3 compartments: 1 large compartment in the middle and two smaller ones on either sides. Both its surface and facade are symmetrically designed strictly under classical style. Exploring the exquisite architecture of Dalat Cathedral is one of the great things to do in Dalat.
Unique its architecture together with important religious significance, Dalat Cathedral has become one of the most amazing churches in Da Lat in particular and Vietnam churches in general. The facade of the church houses a rising bell tower. The motifs and architectural details on the facade completely adapt from the original of the European models. The windows retain round-shaped arches with strong and definitive contours; the roof is tiled with lithography, especially the harmonious and closely ratio between the blocks. Penthouse is decorated with 70 colorful stained glasses by Louis Balmet workshop in Grenoble (France), which much more makes the breathtaking scenery of Dalart.
In particular, on the wall of the interior is home to bas-reliefs of 1m x 0.8m in size, which made from cement and iron (implemented by sculptor Xuan Thi). Outside walls are always painted pink, which much respects the solemnity of a religious architectural works. Notably, right from outside the church, the top of Holy Cross is a statue of a chicken (27m above the ground) made of hollow lightweight alloy with a special chemical layer. It is 0.66m long and 0.58m high orbiting a silver shaft to indicate wind direction. The symbol of chicken seemly reminds the penance in a retelling of the Bible.
In the afternoon, Dalat natural landscapes viewed from the bell tower of the cathedral are extremely impressive. The sunlight shining through the dome stretching down the deserted asphalt trail forms poetic scenery. Both sides of the Cathedral are rows of ancient trees sticking up a corner of the street. The lithography tile roofs are standing out in brilliant light of the day. With classical Roman architecture, Chicken Church looks like much majestic in the sunset. These unique impressions are worth to turn the church into one of the wonderful attractions in Dalat It is true to the significance of the church, going Dalat Cathedral, tourists will feel the relaxed in soul, which is out of all sorrow of the daily urban life. Sounds of church's bells echoing in a quiet and tranquil space make the space much more sacred.
Con Ga Church is a familiar praying venue of the locals as well as the must-see tourist site in Dalat tours, especially at Christmas. Tourists are often considered Dalat as a miniature city of Paris with numerous architectural works left from ancient times. Dalat Cathedral also leaves good impression to tourists in mind with unique architectural strongly inspiring Europe architectural style. It thus significantly contributes to bring Dalat tourism closer to tourists.
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