Hankou Shanghai Road Catholic Church

Hankou Shanghai Road Catholic Church

Hankou Shanghai Road Catholic Church is a cultural relic protection unit of Hubei Province.

Hankou Shanghai Road Catholic Church

Located on Shanghai Road in Jiang’an District, Wuhan, it was originally named St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and built in 1876. The two-story brick and stone structure covers a construction area of 1,273.45 square meters. With a Renaissance architectural style, the church has a cruciform layout and a basilica-style façade. The interior features semi-circular and intersecting arches that create a spacious vaulted ceiling, meeting both functional needs and conveying a religious sense of upward aspiration. As the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Hankou, it is an important building in the modern religious history of Wuhan. (Fifth Batch)

The church has a traditional Latin cross floor plan, with a two-story brick-and-wood structure. On either side at the rear are circular bell towers. Inside, there are five altars and exquisite arcades, accommodating over 1,000 worshippers during Mass.

The façade follows the Roman basilica style. As it is dedicated to St. Joseph, it was formerly known as “St. Joseph’s Cathedral.”

This site was originally a wild, overgrown lake marsh. In the fifth year of the Tongzhi reign during the Qing Dynasty, or 1866, Bishop Meneviş purchased the land and gradually filled and leveled it. The church was designed and supervised by an Italian missionary.

On January 18, 1938, a memorial Mass was held here for soldiers and civilians who died resisting the Japanese invasion. Senior officials of the Nationalist government, including Shao Lizi and Wu Guozhen, attended the ceremony. Zhu De, Commander-in-Chief of the Eighth Route Army, and Peng Dehuai, Deputy Commander-in-Chief, sent elegiac scrolls inscribed with “Died for a Just Cause” and “Though Dead Yet Lives.” In December 1944, U.S. aircraft bombed one of the bell towers, which remains unrepaired to this day.

Source: Hubei Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of Hubei Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units