Sikai Church

Xikai church is the largest Catholic Church in Tianjin and the Bishop's Cathedral of Tianjin diocese.

The whole building is in the shape of "pin". The building is made of yellow and red brick, with emerald green round belly shaped top and semicircular arch windows under the eaves. The main hall is a three corridor type.

The Church holds religious activities every morning. Every Sunday and Catholic Festival, there are religious activities in the morning and evening.

Walking out of Xikai church is the international style street, with cafes and Western restaurants of different sizes, which is full of petty bourgeoisie flavor.

Sikai Church

Xikai church is located in Dushan Road, Binjiang Road, Heping District, Tianjin. It is located in the southwest and faces the northeast. It is fully known as the Catholic Xikai General Church. Later, it was also known as Xikai church and old Xikai church because of its location. Sikai church was built in 1916 by Paul Marie dumond (1864-1944), a French missionary. It has a building area of 1891.95 square meters and can accommodate 1500 people at the same time. The plane is in a cross shape.

The architectural plan of Tianjin Xikai church is in Latin "cross" shape. Three huge domes with a height of 45 meters are arranged in the shape of "pin". The three domes are slightly elongated upward, and the surface is covered with green copper plate. The huge domes are supported by wood structure, and each dome has a Bronze Cross.

Xikai church is a cultural relic protection unit and a historic building with special protection grade in Tianjin. It is the largest Romanesque building in Tianjin and the Bishop's Cathedral of Catholic Diocese in Tianjin (Xikai church is the Bishop's mansion, but there is no Bishop).

In November 2018, Xikai church was selected as the third batch of Chinese 20th century architectural heritage.

Historical evolution

The first year of the Republic of China (1912), the Vatican issued an imperial edict, wanghailou church. The first bishop, Du Baolu (French emissary), inspected that wanghailou church was located in the old urban area of Tianjin, which was not easy to expand in the future. So he built a new Episcopal Church in laoxikai, which was close to the southwest of the French concession in Tianjin. Near the church, Xikai primary school, Joseph primary school, Shenggong primary school, French Han school (today's 21 middle school) of Joseph's nunnery, and Tiancheng primary school were successively opened Bishop hospital (now obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital) forms a large church complex.

Xikai church was founded in August 1913.

In 1915, the French Catholic Church forced the residents of laoxikai to pay taxes to the French concession. The people of Tianjin were extremely indignant, and the masses from all walks of life united to organize the Association for maintaining national power and territory to resist the invasion and expansion of France. Therefore, the laoxikai incident occurred.

In June 1916, Xikai church was completed. On October 20 of the same year, the French Concession arrested the Chinese police stationed at Zhangzhuang bridge, which caused a large-scale protest in Tianjin. Later, this area maintained the situation of Sino French co management for a long time. At that time, the church itself was located in the Chinese border, and its gate was facing Fuxu general's military road (Binjiang Road) in the French concession of Tianjin, so it was very grand. On the side of the church is the "fahan school" (Tianjin No.21 middle school), and on the back is the church hospital (Tianjin obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital).

In 1931, after the Japanese launched the plain clothes riot in Tianjin, the French concession in Tianjin basically controlled the old Xikai area, but it was not formally incorporated into the French concession, but belonged to the illegal occupation area outside the French concession.

During the cultural revolution, church activities were forced to stop. On August 23, 1966, St. Joseph's Cathedral was attacked by the red guards. The crosses on the three towers were smashed and restored in the 1980s.

In 1976, the bases of the domes of the two front towers were severely damaged by the Tangshan earthquake.

In 1979, the religious policy was implemented and the religious property was returned. In the same year, the foundation was repaired. On August 15, 1980, the Xikai church was completed, officially opened to the outside world, and religious activities resumed.

In August 1991, Xikai Catholic Church was listed as a cultural relic protection unit in Tianjin. In the same year, it was jointly named "national excellent modern project" by the Ministry of construction and the State Administration of cultural relics.

In November 2018, Xikai church was selected as the third batch of Chinese 20th century architectural heritage.

Architectural pattern

The architectural style of Xikai church belongs to Roman style, with three green domes, 45 meters high, and each dome has a Bronze Cross. Because the bishop refused to install lightning rods on the dome, a cross was struck down by lightning in the 1950s and then replaced with lightning rods. However, after the 1980s, when the surrounding high-rise buildings were piled up, the church was no longer the tallest building, so there was no need for lightning rods. The main building of Xikai church is made of red and yellow tiles. There are many murals and organ in the church. There are holy water altar in the front courtyard and two gates on the left and right. Believers enter from different doors for men and women.

The structure of Xikai church is a long hall with chambers. The transverse Hall of the church intersects with the rectangular church to form a cross arcade. The gate is in the form of arch, which is usually made of stone. An arch roll is chiseled on the stone gate, one is covered by an arch roll from the outside to the inside, and the other is smaller than the other. It is the innermost wooden gate. From both sides of the main entrance to the altar at the bottom of the main hall, there are two rows (7 in each row), a total of 14 columns, forming a three corridor style. The central hall is supported by stacked composite square colonnades. The octagonal domes and side windows are painted with stained glass. The painted murals on the interior wall are ornate and full of religious mystery. There are towers on the left and right of the entrance of the church.

Church use

Church wedding

Sikai church can hold wedding ceremony, but both sides must be believers. White collar workers and intellectuals who yearn for solemn, sacred and romantic feelings. The Catholic Church has always advocated the sanctity of marriage, love between husband and wife, love of life and love of life.

Guests enter the church at the same time to play music (Catholic Holy music, Wedding March), and to light candles for relatives and friends. The pastor leads the singing class to enter the church. The president (pastor) calls for the wedding to begin. The best man, bridesmaid and bride come in one after another. The bride's parents hold the bride's hand to enter the church. All rise. The bride's parents take part in the ceremony. The singing class (YMCA) sings hymns (or songs about marriage). Pray and offer sacrifices Poetry - priest (Priest) testifies marriage - bridegroom and bride (seal of the principal and introducer) - bridegroom and bride wear rings and vows to each other - unveil the Veil - offer Poetry (words of blessing) - thank you (offer flowers to parents or make three bows to guests) - courtesy.

Worship party

There are mass at 6:00 and 7:30 on weekdays in Xikai church. There are many ceremonies on Sundays and Catholic festivals. There are also English sacraments for foreigners in Tianjin.

During the four major Catholic festivals, there are often large-scale ceremonial activities, especially during the Christmas period, the surrounding areas will take temporary traffic control.

Mass time

Ancillary buildings

The auxiliary complex building of Xikai church is a single building. The new complex building has a total construction area of 4300 square meters, including two and a half floors above the ground, with a construction area of 3200 square meters above the ground and a maximum height of 14.85 meters above the ground; one floor underground, with an underground construction area of 1100 square meters (January 2015, under construction).

Travel Tips

traffic

Take bus No.3, 45, 851, 50, 643, 901, 35, 847, 600, 800, 673 and sightseeing No.2.

position

East section of Xining Road, Heping District, Tianjin.

Opening Hours

Christmas parties are usually held on Christmas Eve (December 24) evening and Christmas (December 25) morning. There is a party on Sunday morning.

Address: No.9 Xining Road, Heping District, Tianjin

Longitude: 117.19386529922

Latitude: 39.11793625653

Tel: 022-81319395; 022-278

Tour time: 1 hour

Traffic information: take bus No.35, 50, 606, 631, 632, 641, 643 and get off at Binjiang Road (International Mall) station.

Ticket information: Free

Opening hours: (mass time) one set at 6:00 and 7:30 on weekdays; one set at 6:00, 7:30, 10:00, 11:30, 15:00 and 19:00 on Sundays, of which 7:30 is public mass and 11:30 is English mass

Chinese PinYin : Xi Kai Jiao Tang