St. Michael's Cathedral in Qingdao

St. Michael's Cathedral，also called the Zhejiang Road Catholic Church，which is abbreviated by locals to simply the "Catholic Church" is a Catholic church in Qingdao (also known as Tsingtao), Shandong Province, and it is the seat of the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Qingdao. It is located in the oldest part of Qingdao, at 15 Zhejiang Road, on the east side of Zhongshan Road in Shinan District.

Built by German missionaries, the cathedral stands at the top of a hill in the center of the old German-built part of the city. It is the largest example of Romanesque Revival architecture in the province, resembling a German cathedral of the 12th century.

 

St. Michael's Cathedral is the product of a strong German presence in Shandong Province in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the mid-19th century the European powers forcibly opened China to foreign trade. The Divine Word Missionaries built a church in the Jiaozhou Bay concession in Shandong in 1902, and in 1934 erected the cathedral, which remained nominally under their administration until 1964. In 1942 it came under the control of the Japanese Army, returning to Chinese control when the Japanese left Qingdao in 1945. In the early 1950s, all foreign missionaries, including the Bishop of Qingdao, were either imprisoned or expelled from China, and during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) the cathedral was defaced and abandoned. In 1981, it was repaired by the government and reopened for services, and in 1992 it was listed as a Provincial Historic Building by the government of Shandong Province.

Inside, you will find a very large hall with 7 big chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling. At the far end of the hall is the altar. On ceiling above the altar dome is the fresco of Holy Heaven; with two Latin prayers: GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO at left side and VENITE ADOREMUS DOMINUM at right which means: Glory the exclusively highest Lord and please let's worship Him.

The interior height in the middle is 18 meters. The windows were all painted with Biblical stories and were embodied with brilliant colorful glasses which give the church interior very beautiful colors and fill each worshipper with a feeling of heavenly serenity! On the choir balcony, there used to be one of the two biggest organs in Asia with altogether 2400 pipes which itself could completely make up an orchestra. Unfortunately it was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, but in April 2008, Qingdao Diocese ordered a new one from Germany with similar capacity but more splendid with developed function while still remains very classic. The new organ costs a sum of more than ten million. It will ensure the developing of good combination of Catholic belief with the thousands - years - old Chinese culture and will add to the prestige of the coming Olympic games in Qingdao.

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