St. Michael's Cathedral, Qingdao 圣弥厄尔大教堂

About St. Michael's Cathedral, Qingdao

Completed in 1934, it combines Romanesque Revival massing with Gothic details and forms a strong contrast with the lower buildings around Zhongshan Road. Its hilltop forecourt gives space to study the facade. This remains a place of worship, so an architectural visit should follow the arrangements for visitors and services on the day.

Design work was led by a priest of the German Divine Word Missionaries (阿尔弗雷德·弗莱波尔), with engineering supervised by a German architect (亚瑟·毕娄哈). Construction began on 5 May 1931 and the cathedral was consecrated on 28 October 1934, replacing an earlier Gothic plan that had stalled after Japanese forces occupied Qingdao in 1914. The government closed the church in 1951 and it was damaged during the Cultural Revolution before being restored and reopened for religious use in 1981.

Its two bell towers rise 56 meters and are each topped with a cross, above a Latin-cross basilica plan whose nave holds more than a thousand people; it is the largest Romanesque Revival building in Shandong province. The structure rests on a reinforced-concrete frame, a technique still new to Qingdao at the time, with brick walls and buttresses providing further support for the towers and roof.

The cathedral was listed as a Shandong provincial cultural heritage site in 1992 and inscribed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位) in 2006. It preserves murals in the apse dome and transepts and the tombstones of two former bishops, Wei Changlu (维昌禄) and Han Xirang (韩锡让); in 2006 a large organ was commissioned from a German manufacturer for the west choir loft.

What to look for

• The symmetrical bell towers and the circular rose window in the main facade.
• The hilltop setting above the older streets east of Zhongshan Road.

The surrounding area

Coastal city base; Badaguan and the wider Laoshan area are separate outings.

Location & getting there

Getting to St. Michael's Cathedral, Qingdao

Go to 15 Zhejiang Road in Shinan District, uphill on the eastern side of Zhongshan Road. Approach the public forecourt from Zhejiang Road and follow the cathedral’s arrangements if entering the church.