Inside the Haerbin Architectural Art Museum 哈尔滨建筑艺术馆

You need a ticket to be able to get in the Haerbin Architectural Art Museum, also known as the Saint Sophia Cathedral. The cathedral has not been used for religious services for a while and it was only fairly recently that the square got its upgrade. The cathedral has since been turned into Haerbin’s Architectural Art Museum, showcasing Haerbin’s architectural heritage, for which it has no shortage of. Upon entry to the museum I was immediately greeted by a chandlier hanging by the entrance. The light of the chandlier play with the colors of the church itself and lends it a very comforting kind of glow.

At this point there were already stalls set up here for souvenir buyers. Most of them don’t really have much to do with the museum but were just tagging along the Russian products line. The vendors are not pushy and in fact they just totally ignore you. I like that. From the outside, it doesn’t look like that the church is huge but once you get in, you realized just how small it really was. The Russian community in Haerbin wasn’t that huge to justify a massive cathedral when it was just built to boost local perceptions when the Russian lost to the Japanese during the Russo-Japanese war.

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