Catholic Church in Urumqi

The Catholic church of Urumqi stands on South Heping Street, wedged between residential towers and the shopping rows of the old centre. The building is recognised by its two dark onion domes with red crosses and by a tall portal inscribed with the words for the house of the Lord. A Catholic community appeared in Xinjiang at the turn of the twentieth century, and this church remains its principal parish in the region. In the evening the facade is lit, and the domes can be picked out from the crossroads a block away. A few minutes' walk from here begins the old Muslim quarter with its Dungan mosques.

On the map