Despite being one of Vietnam’s oldest Catholic structures, this gothic beauty remains little known to tourists.

More than two centuries and two decades ago, a venerable, gothic structure took shape in south-central Vietnam.

Today, it stands tall and serene in Phu Yen Province, quietly offering spiritual shelter to devout Catholics and others.

The Mang Lang Church was built by French missionary Father Joseph Lacassagne in 1892, almost three centuries after the first visit by Portuguese Catholic missionaries to Vietnam.

The gray church features twin bell towers.

The little known Gothic architectural gem is one of many beautiful churches that serve Vietnamese Catholics. Vietnam is home to the fifth largest Catholic population in Asia.

Built on 5,000 square meters of land, the church in An Thach Commune, 35 kilometers north of the Tuy Hoa City, capital of Phu Yen, took 15 years to build.

The church’s interior embraces Romanesque traditional features, including clustered columns, stained glass windows, and pointed arches.

The gray church features twin bell towers. Its original vaulted ceiling collapsed after a storm in 1924 and had been replaced by a flat, wood-paneled one.

The church stands in the native village of Andrew of Phu Yen, who was beheaded in 1644 at the age of 19 for refusing to abjure the faith. Since Andrew was declared Patron of the youth, the church has become an important shrine for all Catholics.

Printed in Latin and Vietnamese (Quốc ngữ) in 1651, it was written by the father of the country’s modern language, Alexander de Rhodes. The same year, he published the first trilingual Vietnamese-Portuguese-Latin dictionary based on work by earlier Portuguese missionaries.

The church’s interior embraces Romanesque traditional features, including clustered columns, stained glass windows, and pointed arches.

Mang Lang Church stores the first book to be printed in the modern Vietnamese script called Cathechismus.

Source: VnExpress