Phat Diem Cathedral is 130 kilometers South of Hanoi. A priest named Tran Luc built it between 1875 and 1899

The Phat Diem Cathedral site encloses many Chapels built in oriental style. A lake leads to a kind of atrium called Phuong Dinh
and to the Catherdral itself. The Catedral is surrounded by four Chapels, three artificial grottos and a stone Shrine

On a tiny islet in the middle of the retangular lake recigns a tall white statue of Christ the King

Phuong Dinh is an imposing stone structure 24 metres long, 17 metres wide and 25 metres high. Stone low relief are to be seen
inside as well as outside. On it its top are hanging a big drum and a big bell weighing about two tons. It was cast a hundred
years ago

The Cathedral is 74 metres long and 21 metres wide. It has four roofs resting on six ranks of wood pillars. The two middle ranks have 16 pillars each eleven metres high, 2.35m in circumference. Each of them is the trunk of a single tree. The high altar was cut in a single block of stone (3 metres long, 90 centimetres large and 80 centimetres high) and carved on its three sides. The back of the high altar is made of chiselled wocdworks lacquered and gilt

On both sides of the Cathedral four Chapels mount the guard of honour. Each one has a
different style. At the far end rise three stone grottos, the most beautiful of them is that of
Our Lady of Lourdes. Finally, on the North-West corner of the site rises the jewel of the
whole complex: it is popularly called the Stone Chapel because all its carts are made of
stone: walls, columns, beams, windows and towers

Phat Diem Cathedral through the ups and downs of a hundred years of its existence has
always been welcoming worshippers and visitors from the world all over.