St. Joseph's Cathedral ( , ; ) is a Catholic church on Nhà Chung Street, in the

Hoàn Kiếm District Hoàn Kiếm () is one of the four original urban districts (quận) of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. It is named after the scenic Hoàn Kiếm Lake. The lake is in the heart of the district and serves as the focal point of the city's publ ...

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. It is a late 19th-century

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

(Neo-Gothic style) church that serves as the

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hanoi The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Hanoi (, , ) is a Catholic Church, Catholic metropolitan archdiocese of Vietnam. It is one of the earliest in the history of the Catholic Church in Vietnam. The creation of the diocese in present form was declare ...

. The cathedral is named after

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

, the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of Vietnam. Construction began in 1884, with an architectural style resembling the

Notre Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris ( ; meaning "Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris"), often referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a Medieval architecture, medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the River Seine), in the 4th arrondissemen ...

. The church was one of the first structures built by the colonial government of

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...

when it opened in December, 1886 and is the oldest church in Hanoi.

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

is celebrated in the cathedral several times during the day. For the Sunday Mass at 6:00 PM, large crowds spill out into the streets. Prayers and hymns are broadcast to the plaza outside; Catholics who are unable to enter the cathedral congregate in the street and listen to hymns.

Geography

The cathedral is situated west of Hoàn Kiếm Lake, in a small square within the Old Quarter. Located at the end of the Nhà Thờ Street and the corner of Nhà Chung Street, is an upscale market area with boutiques and silks, popular with tourists as well as restaurants and small apartment blocks. The cathedral is also the headquarters of Archdiocese of Vietnam; it controls over 480 churches and

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

s and 113

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

es, and serves 400,000

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. The cathedral's main gates are generally only opened during Mass; at other times, entry is allowed through a side door in the compound wall of the

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

, after which a bell can be rung to enter the cathedral proper.

History

In November 1873, acting in support of the French trader Jean Dupuis, French troops under the command of Lieutenant

Francis Garnier Marie Joseph François Garnier (; 25 July 1839 – 21 December 1873) was a French officer, inspector of Indigenous Affairs of Cochinchina and explorer. He eventually became mission leader of the Mekong Expedition of 1866–68, Mekong Exploration C ...

captured the Hanoi Citadel, before conquering the rest of the city. A decade passed before the colonists gained full control of Hanoi due to rebel insurgencies. Construction of the cathedral most likely started after this time and it was completed in December 1886, a year before the federation of

was established as part of its colonial empire. It was built by the French missionary and

apostolic vicar Apostolic may refer to: The Apostles An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission: *The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles *Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Churc ...

of West Tonkin Paul-François Puginier, who obtained permission from the colonial French administration. It was built on the abandoned site of Báo Thiên Pagoda. This location was part of an "administrative center" of

Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain '' Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, including both the ...

before the French colonial era. In order to facilitate the construction of the church, the ruins of the pagoda - which was built when the city was founded by the 11th-century

Lý dynasty The Lý dynasty (, , chữ Nôm: 茹李, chữ Hán: 朝李, Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: ''triều Lý''), officially Đại Cồ Việt (chữ Hán: 大瞿越) from 1009 to 1054 and Đại Việt (chữ Hán: 大越) from 1054 to 1225, was ...

and had collapsed in 1542, never to be repaired - were cleared. The cathedral was consecrated on December 24, 1886. After the

Viet Minh The Việt Minh (, ) is the common and abbreviated name of the League for Independence of Vietnam ( or , ; ), which was a Communist Party of Vietnam, communist-led national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1 ...

took control of

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954 Geneva Conference, 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it o ...

following the Geneva Accords in 1954, the Catholic Church suffered decades of persecution. Priests were arrested, and church property was seized and expropriated. St. Joseph's Cathedral was not spared; it was closed down until

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...

of 1990, when

was permitted to be celebrated there again. In 2008, protests related to religious symbols occurred at the lot next to the cathedral.

Architecture

Exterior

Built with stone slabs and in brick with concrete facing, the façade consists of two towers, square in shape, rising to a height of , with each tower fitted with five bells. The cathedral was built in a

(Neo-Gothic) style. The twin

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

s have often drawn comparison to those at

; the architects of St. Joseph's sought to emulate its Parisian counterpart. The exterior walls of the church are made of

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

stone slabs. Over the years, the cathedral's exterior has become severely worn down due to heavy pollution. In response, the cathedral underwent major renovation works between July 2020 and May 2022, restoring its external appearance and structural integrity.

Interior

Windows are fitted with tall stained glass and have pointed arches. The cathedral's stained glass windows were produced in France before being transported to

. The ceiling is rib-vaulted like those seen in medieval Europe. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

is weathered, while the sanctuary is made of polished gilt-trimmed wood, similar to that of

Phát Diệm Cathedral The Phát Diệm Cathedral () is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phát Diệm, located in Kim Sơn District of Ninh Bình Province in Vietnam. The architecture of the church – built in stone and wood in 1891 – is an eclecticism in ar ...

, and has architectural embellishments in the imperial

Huế Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...

style. A statue of the Virgin Mary is kept in a palanquin according to local custom, which is seen to the left of the nave. A

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

designed by the Belgian craftsman Guido Schumacher, was installed in the cathedral on 23 November, 2022, as part of a cultural exchange project between Itami in Japan and Hasselt in Belgium. The instrument has 1,850 pipes.

References

External links

Official website of St. Joseph's Cathedral
( Vietnamese)
Official website of the Archdiocese of Hanoi
( Vietnamese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Joseph's Cathedral, Hanoi Roman Catholic churches in Hanoi Roman Catholic churches completed in 1886 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Vietnam French colonial architecture in Vietnam Roman Catholic cathedrals in Vietnam Gothic Revival church buildings in Vietnam Conversion of non-Christian religious buildings and structures into churches