The North Cathedral in Beijing
OUR LADY MOTHER OF CHINA
Early Christianity in China
Matteo Ricci was a catholic Jesuit missionary from Italy, mathematician and cartographer. He was considered the initiator of the expansion of Christianity in China in 1601, after arriving in Beijing.
In 1605 the emperor allowed him a residence with a small chapel, Chinese style, allowing him to hang only a cross above the entrance to distinguish it as a church. At that time it was known as the Xuanwumen Chapel.
In the surroundings of the first church he founded, Nantang, other temples soon appeared and Beitang (the Cathedral of the North), originated since then, which was of great importance in the evangelization in the Chinese capital.
Churches in Beijing
The Church of the Saviour, colloquially known as Xishiku or Beitang Church, is since then, one of the few Catholic churches in Beijing.
It was originally established by the Jesuits in 1703, on land granted by the Kangxi Emperor, following his recovery from an illness thanks to the medical expertise of Jesuit priests Jean-François Gerbillon and Joachim Bouvet.
The emperor also personally wrote to carve later a calligraphic plaque naming the temple “Church of the Saviour”.
In 1887 it was moved and rebuilt on its present site at the request of Emperor Guangxu, who needed the land to build the Zhongnanhai Park.
Access to gardens
Access to the cathedral is through gardens dotted with vases and lions carved in stone and two pavilions flanking the main façade.
The style
The present neo-Gothic cathedral with its elaborate gray marble facade was built in 1890, under the direction of the Lazarist missionary Bishop Pierre-Marie-Alphonse Favier (1837-1905), who designed it. It stands on spacious grounds, surrounded by pine and oak trees and two Chinese pavilions.
On the left side of the presbytery from the main alter is the new chapel of Our Lady Mother of China.
