St. Joseph's Church, Beijing
| St Joseph's Church, Beijing 大聖若瑟堂 (Chinese) |
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|---|---|
| Wangfujing Cathedral (Dongtang) | |
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| 39°54′57″N 116°24′21″E / 39.91583°N 116.40583°ECoordinates: 39°54′57″N 116°24′21″E / 39.91583°N 116.40583°E | |
| Location | Wangfujing, Beijing |
| Country | China |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| History | |
| Founded | 1653 |
| Founder(s) | Lodovico Buglio |
| Consecrated | |
| Architecture | |
| Status | Parish church |
| Functional status | Active |
| Style | Romanesque Revival |
| Groundbreaking | |
| Completed | 1904 |
| Administration | |
| Archdiocese | Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Beijing |
| Clergy | |
| Archbishop | Joseph Li Shan |
St. Joseph's Church (simplified Chinese: 大圣若瑟堂; traditional Chinese: 大聖若瑟堂), commonly known as Wangfujing Church (Chinese: 王府井天主堂) or Dongtang (Chinese: 東堂, the East Cathedral), is an early 20th-century Romanesque Revival church that is one of the four historic Catholic churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Beijing. It is located in the Dongcheng District of the city at 74 Wangfujing Street.
The construction of the church was finished in 1655 by Jesuit missionaries. Due to renovations and reconstruction, the current structure dates back to 1904. The church is the second oldest in Beijing after the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
The congregation was first established in 1653 by Father Lodovico Buglio, an Italian Jesuit astronomer and theologian who worked as a missionary to China. The land the first church building was constructed on was donated to the religious order by the Shunzhi Emperor. At the time, the Jesuits were the only group of people from Europe given permission to reside in the capital city, on account of their insight into astronomy. As a result, the church also served as the residence of Buglio and another fellow Jesuit priest.
The church underwent an extremely turbulent history. An earthquake which struck Beijing in 1720 damaged the building. Approximately ninety years later, the church building was obliterated by fire and the remnants that survived were destroyed as a result of the government's anti-Western sentiments and policies. The site remained barren until 1860, when British and French forces invaded Beijing as part of the Second Opium War. Thereafter, foreign missionaries, who were once again allowed into the capital, rebuilt St. Joseph's. However, anti-foreign sentiment never faded away and arose once again at the turn of the century, culminating in the Boxer Rebellion. At the height of the uprising in 1900, the church building was "burned to the ground".
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Wikipedia