Beside numerous beautiful natural landscapes, Sapa also owns an impressive architectural structure called Stone Church. It is well-known for its unique French architecture still remained in Sapa. Like other tourist destinations, Stone Church attracts a lot of tourists all year round and becomes an indispensable destination in your Sapa Vietnam tours.
The prime location
Located at the centre of Sapa Town, Stone Church is worth to be recognized as the symbol of Sapa. More specifically, it is surrounded by Ham Rong mountain creating an extremely imposing scenery for the church. In the front side, there is a large and flat ground. Its usage is to organize some outdoor activities during the periodical festivals of ethnic groups. Especially, an important characteristic making the church more brilliant is the face position. It orients to the East that is also the sunrise direction. Thus the church can get a plenty of sunlight which is thought to be sent from God in the local belief. On the contrary, the back of the church is on the West, this is the place where Kito God was born.
The impression of French architecture
Stone Church of Sapa is also known as Church of Our Lady. The French began to build it in 1985. It was designed in the style of Romanesque and Gotic architecture reflecting through the soaring lines of elegant roofs, domes, and belfry with a pyramidal shape. The church was mainly built with marble. Its roof was tiled and its ceiling was whitewashed. All of its walls and floors were made of hewn stones thus helping the church becomes reliably solid. Through a large number of punctilios, it shows the artistic skills in the architecture of French architects.
The total area of the church is quite large with about 6000 square meters. Therefore, people apportion it into some areas such as sanctuary, angel house, holy garden, fences and so on. Among them, the angel house includes 3 upper floors dedicated to taking care of the sick or the overnight travelers, a basement, a kitchen, a churchyard, and a restroom. With 500 square meters in width, the sanctuary of the church has 7 chambers and a belfry with over 20 meters in height. Inside, there is an ancient bell which was seamless in 1932. When the bell strikes, the sound can spread over 1 kilometer to some Sapa traditional villages.
Read more: 5 useful tips to visit Sapa villages
The life of Sapa people near Stone Church
Stone Church of Sapa is an ideal place to do business and organize some traditional activities. Every day, ethnic people gather together at this place to sell and exchange goods, which can not only help them make ends meet but also broaden their relationships. On every Saturday night, there is a special market called “Love Market” taking place near the church. This is a nice long-standing characteristic of ethnic minorities in which makes a lot of tourists interested. Besides, the prayer activities should also not be overlooked when going there. It makes the scenery of Sapa at night more charming and sparkling.
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