Dalat Main Cathedral

Dalat Main Cathedral Church with the local name Chicken Church
Dalat Cathedral is one of the Catholic churches in Vietnam known as the Chicken Church because the top of the bell tower there is a brass chicken. This is the largest church in Dalat, one of the most outstanding and ancient architectures of Da Lat left by the French.

History of the Church

Together with Dr. Alexandre Yersin discovered the Dalat, there were priest Robert in 1893. By 1917, MEP's manager in the oriental is Father Nicolas Couveur came to Da Lat with The purpose was build a seminary as part of the parish. At the end of April 1920, Bishop Quinton (General Manager of Saigon) decided to establish Da Lat Diocese.

The Dalat Cathedral was officially started at 9 am on Sunday, July 19, 1931, by Bishop Coloban Dreyer (Apostolic Nuncio in Indochina and Thailand) who placed the first stone. It was built according to the plans of Father Cesleste Nicolas, who then designed the "model" same as Catholic churches of Roma in Europe, which is typical of the Roman architecture. The building was built for 11 years.

Architectural overview of Con Ga church

The church shape (like the cross) is 65m long, 14m wide, 47m high bell tower. At that height, the church bell tower can be seen everywhere in the city. The main door of the church face to the direction of Langbiang Mountain.

The church's interior consists of 3 compartments: 1 large room in the middle and 2 small rooms on the sides. The section of the building shows the rolling system in the form of arches with curved lines and arches. Columns in the interior have the classic column head simulate the classical form combined with the transmitter. Both the surfaces are strictly classical symmetrical designs.

Stand-face with a bell tower. The lines, details on the façade are entirely derived from the original European models. The windows have round arches, strong lines, decisive, organized in vertical position, roof tile lithography, especially the ratio between blocks are very harmonious and tight. The chapel is decorated with 70 colored plates made by the Louis Balmet factory in Grenoble, France, making the church scene more subtle. The wall is made of brick with a thickness of 30 - 40 cm. On the wall in the interior is attached with some panting with a size of 1m x 0.8m, made of cement and iron (by the sculptor Xuan Thi). The outside walls are always painted pink, the more respect for the solemnity of a religious architecture.

On the crucifix there is a statue of a chicken (27m from the ground) with a lightweight metal hollow inside is coated with a special copper layer 0.66m long, 0.58m high, orbiting to indicate the wind direction.

At the annual Christmas, this place attracts many people both inside and outside the religion to attend.