Nha Trang Mountain Cathedral (Nhà thờ Núi)

A Catholic church in the neo-Gothic style, raised by French missionaries on a low hill in the centre of Nha Trang and consecrated in May 1933. Grey stone walls, lancet stained-glass windows, a tower with a clock and a belfry. Its official name is the Cathedral of Christ the King (Nhà thờ Chánh tòa Kitô Vua). It was built by the priest Louis Vallet; he died in 1945 and was buried at the foot of the hill, to the right of the road leading up. Work began in 1928: to obtain a level site, the top of Bong Hill was blasted away, and the building was raised on the resulting platform. Locals call the cathedral by various names — the "mountain church", the "stone church", or the church by the six-way roundabout it faces. The nearly forty-metre bell tower carries three French-cast bells and a tower clock that appeared later than the church itself. Inside there is an elongated nave with pointed arches and coloured stained glass with figures of saints. In the late eighties an old cemetery at the foot of the hill was cleared away, and the remains were transferred into the retaining wall along the climb, so that it is now covered all over with memorial plaques. The cathedral remains the seat of the Nha Trang diocese, and services are held daily.

On the map