Datong Catholic Church Bell Tower

Datong Catholic Church Bell Tower

The Datong Catholic Church Bell Tower is a cultural relic protection unit of Anhui Province.

The Datong Catholic Church Bell Tower is located at No. 156 Shengli Street, Datong Town, the suburban area of Tongling City.

In 1872, Spaniards established a Catholic mission here. The existing bell tower of the Catholic church was completed in 1936. It is a Romanesque-style building, constructed under the direction of Father Guynard, a priest from the Yangma Pier Cathedral in Wuhu. The bell tower faces east and overlooks the Yangtze River and the urban area of Datong Town. Its overall structure is that of a square pillar, built with blue-gray bricks and quarry stones. Each side is approximately 5 meters long, and the height is about 19 meters. The tower is divided into upper, middle, and lower levels, featuring tall bundled columns, semi-circular arched doorways, and sturdy walls. Judging from the traces remaining on the wall, there were likely other buildings connected to the eastern wall of the bell tower at the time.

Protected area: within 10 meters of the cultural relic itself.

Construction control zone: 30 meters beyond the protected area on all sides.

Datong Town: Datong is a renowned ancient town in southern China with a history of over a thousand years. It is located southwest of Tongling City, on the southern bank of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. To the northwest, it faces Zongyang across the river, while to the south, it borders Guichi and Qingyang across the Qingtong River. It is only 180 kilometers from Huangshan, known as the “World Park,” and 90 kilometers from Jiuhua Mountain, one of China’s four great Buddhist mountains. The area is traversed by the Tongqing Highway, Tonggui Highway, the Yangtze River Expressway, and the Hefei–Tongling–Huangshan Expressway, making it a key hub and major passage for accessing the southern Anhui tourist region. It serves as the northern gateway to Anhui’s “Two Mountains and One Lake” (Jiuhua Mountain, Huangshan, and Taihu Lake), and is also the site of the first gate of Jiuhua Mountain.

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