Sacred Heart Cathedral of Haerbin 哈尔滨圣心天主教堂

It is a bit strange for me to see three different churches stand so close to each other. Most of the time, I would be in places where there is a majority religion, which meant that the church people use will always be the same. This also means that there was no need to build them close to each other. Haerbin was different, and it is probably a testament to the multi-racial population which was dominant at the time. So a few churches where built for each of the religions there. One for the protestants, one for the Eastern Orthodox Church and one for the Roman Catholics.

The Roman Catholic Church here in Da Zhi Street was built across the two other churches. I saw photos of the church back then and it cut an imposing figure as it is heads and shoulders above the surrounding buildings. Over the years, it has lost that status and it is barely as tall as its neighbors now. It is significantly more crowded now as there was not more space on either side of the church. In fact, I didn’t even know how to get to the church.

The main door of the church was closed, I wasn’t sure if it was because it wasn’t Sunday or there were really no more services held here. Annoyingly, one side of the church has been turned into a shopping center. The front of the church was surrounded by hawkers selling things from food to clothes. These people probably couldn’t care less as it is not their religion. Somehow this reminds me of that story of how Jesus cleared the temple of vendors in anger. The hawkers in front are not that bad yet, but the shopping center really needs to go.

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