Admire the Chicken Church on the 100th anniversary of Da Lat Cathedral Parish
Dalat Cathedral is known by the familiar name Chicken Church, an attractive tourist destination right in the heart of the city, because of its soft Roman architectural style mixed with delicate, elegant Gothic features. Rare escape...
Dalat Cathedral is known by the familiar name Chicken Church, an attractive tourist destination right in the heart of the city, because of its soft Roman architectural style mixed with delicate, elegant Gothic features. Rare escape. Chicken Church is the Cathedral of Da Lat Parish, which has just completed 100 years of establishment and development.
Dalat Cathedral is called "Chicken Church", because at the top of the bell tower there is a chicken made of alloy, hollow inside, 0.66 m long, 0.58 m high, rotating around a silver axis. Bullets to indicate wind direction. Regarding the meaning of the Chicken, there are different explanations, but there is an explanation based on the New Testament passage about Saint Peter, "The Chicken" is a symbol of repentance. "Repent" is Jesus' first invitation when he began preaching the Gospel: "Repent and believe in the Gospel.
" According to Parish Priest Paul Pham Cong Phuong, Chicken Church started out as just a nursing home and chapel for priests to rest. But, along with the development of Da Lat, the number of parishioners of the Da Lat Parish increased rapidly and the first church became too small, so Father Céleste Nicolas (priest of the Dalat Parish at that time) was allowed to build two more churches. Among them, the second church can still see traces of the entrance steps at the location of the main gate of Quang Trung School now; The other church is the current Dalat Cathedral.
The Cathedral was built in 11 years, starting from 1931 to early 1942 and completed, thanks to the efforts and enthusiasm of pastor Nicolas along with the contributions of many people. Dalat Cathedral is designed symmetrically in a classic style with a length of 65 m, a width of 14 m, the main door facing the majestic Lang Biang mountain. The bell tower is 47 m high, so it can be easily recognized from many places in the city.
On the bell tower hang four bells at a height of 25 m, transferred from the second church. The large bell plays the note Do, weighs 415 kg, has a diameter of 0.75 m, and is 1 m high. The second bell weighs 185 kg and strikes the note E. The third bell strikes the note F, weighing 117 kg. The fourth bell strikes the note Sol, weighing 120 kg. In the church, along the walls, there are 14 bas-reliefs depicting the Passion of Jesus, each carved in relief with a width of 1 m and a height of 0.8 m; There are 70 stained glass windows, of which 38 windows have stained glass paintings (vitrail), made by the workshop of artist Louis Balmet, in the province of Grenoble, France, and donated by benefactors. During the day, natural light filtered through this stained glass system becomes magical colors, creating a feeling of sacredness, tranquility, and peace.
The Cathedral has very special sound effects inside the cathedral. Due to the symmetrical interior and exterior structure, the column system divides the church into three compartments, the highest main compartment creates concentration and amplification of sound, and the two auxiliary compartments have ventilation windows to create air convection, pushing Hot air rises into the nave and escapes through the steeple. Perhaps it is the very harmonious and balanced proportions between the compartments that create the wonderful resonance that not all cathedral architecture has.
.The Vietnamese Church has more than 300 years of mission and Da Lat Diocese is 100 years old. According to December 2017 statistics, the parish has 1,135 Catholic families with a total of 3,973 parishioners. The number of believers has decreased, but attendance at Sunday Mass has increased by about 120%, due to tourists and other parishes attending. According to archival documents, from 1919 to the end of July 2020, more than 26,000 people were baptized - including more than 4,000 babies and nearly 5,000 couples whose marriages were witnessed at the Cathedral. Da Lat..
Entering 2020, the year the Parish celebrates its 100th anniversary of establishment and development, the opening ceremony of the Holy Year was held on the afternoon of January 1, 2020 on the feast day of Mary Mother of God, which is also the feast of the title. second of the church. The closing Mass of the Holy Year celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Parish was held on December 6, 2020, on the feast day of Saint Nicholas, patron of the Parish. "Living the gospel in the heart of the nation to serve the happiness of fellow citizens" is the faith of every Catholic. With the message "Charity - Worship - Faith - Mission", to "Build Families and Parishes into a community of faith, a community of worship, a community of charity, and become a community of group to proclaim the Gospel" is what Parish Priest Paul Pham Cong Phuong wants to convey to the community on the 100th anniversary of Da Lat Cathedral Parish.
