Kon Tum Cathedral is the only Basilica-style wooden Catholic church left in the world (Photo: VNA)
Kon Tum (VNA) - Kon Tum Cathedral, a 100-year-old church made of beautiful wood that is considered a masterpiece of Catholic architecture in Southeast Asia, is a must-see destination for visitors to the Central Highlands province.
Construction of the church, the only Basilica-style wooden Catholic church left in the world, started in mid-March 1913 and was completed in early 1918. Many hardships, including the breakout of the First World War, slowed down the construction progress.
Even before that though, it also took three years to prepare for the start of construction, beginning with hiring capable workers to go into the forest to cut wood and using elephants to pull the wood out. The workers were found in places like Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, and Binh Dinh provinces.
In general, the church’s design is a combination of Roman architecture and the stilt house style of the indigenous Ba Na ethnic minority group. It is considered the greatest combination of Western culture and the Central Highlands region’s identity.
From the outside, the church is a tall and majestic building with dark wood tones and tiles seasoned with time (Photo: VNA)
It is called a wooden church because the main construction material is the wood abundant in the Central Highlands. All structures, including columns, trusses and the floor, are made of wood and glued together without nails. The ceilings and walls are plastered with earthen materials mixed with straw, in the style of the traditional houses of central Vietnam. There is no reinforced concrete or mortar used.
In a report sent to the Paris Foreign Missions Society in 1913 at the very beginning of the construction of the church, the Apostolic Vicar of Eastern Cochin Grangeon wrote: “It is not possible to use stones or bricks for construction. Only high-quality wood can do the trick, and the architect said that this church in Ba Na has the appearance of a cathedral.”
From the outside, the church is a tall and majestic building with dark wood tones and tiles seasoned with time. In the front of the church, right in the middle, there is a 24-meter-high bell tower that creates harmony and balance for the entire building. The two-winged corridor is wide and long and the roofs are high and sloping like the communal roofs of the Ba Na, which are firmly supported by round wooden columns.
Inside, it seems the cathedral is in a different world. With its long, soaring, airy, and light-filled arch, the structure awes viewers with its majestic beauty and splendour.
The 12m high columns, placed firmly on a stone base, rise to support the entire central dome and the double-winged corridor ceiling. This not only creates grandeur but also evokes a feeling of open space in all directions.
In particular, the arched wooden truss system and small rows of columns above are delicately connected and seamlessly graceful and soft, making the upper part of the cathedral even more magnificent. On either side of the wings, through a layer of natural light, the vitraux-style stained-glass windows with drawings of biblical stories appear to shimmer.
For the faithful looking up from their seats, the sanctuary is designed as a splendid dome-shaped floating stage, creating a dignified and sublime feeling of the sacred place.
The arched wooden truss system and small rows of columns above are delicately connected and seamlessly graceful and soft, making the upper part of the cathedral even more magnificent (Photo: VNA)
Every detail of the design, carvings, decoration and colour scheme is sophisticated. The interesting detail serves to highlight that the artists of that time were extremely skilled, proven by the large circular stained-glass picture in the centre of the cathedral, right on the main door, opposite the sanctuary.
It was meant to get sunlight and act as a symbol of the sun shining straight in. It is difficult to understand what the glass shows from the outside, but through the reflection of light, the picture appears brilliant and beautiful from the inside, with images of the vivid life of the old Central Highlands with scenes of villages, communal houses, elephants pulling wood, and rivers and streams.
Talking about the beauty of this church in his letter to the Paris Foreign Mission Society in 1918, Bishop Jeanningros, who inaugurated the Kon Tum church, wrote: “This is a spacious and precious building, built with excellent wood... replacing the old bamboo church that burned down seven years ago.”
After more than 100 years, the Kon Tum wooden church is still challenging the harshness of time and seems to get more and more beautiful because of its ancient and rare splendour.
Today, when visiting the Kon Tum church, visitors do not only learn more about the history of the cathedral of Kon Tum Diocese, one of 27 Roman Catholic dioceses in Vietnam and the oldest diocese in the Central Highlands, but also admire one of the wooden masterpieces of Catholic architecture in Vietnam as well as in Southeast Asia./.
