Going back in time more than 100 years ago, An Thach is a wild land, covered with dense forest with a lot of woody trees, oval leaves, purple-pink flowers called mausoleum. People in the area saw this and named Mong Lang Church after the popular tree at that time. To date, An Shi has no trace of this ancient tree, but it has been permanently associated in the name of the monument for more than a century.
According to the introductory notes at the church, Mong Lang Church was started construction in 1892 by French priest Joseph de La Cassagne, also known as Father Gu Xuan. It took 15 years since the first brick was laid for the church to take shape and become operational. Father Gu Xuan is also the first parish priest of Mong Lang parish. Currently in the foundation of the cathedral, a stone stele is still engraved with his name and a brief history of the building in French.
Statue of Blessed Andrew Phu Yen in front of Mong Lang Church.
The church was built during a period when the Catholic faith was conditional to spread more widely in the territory of Dainan, when the imperial government's policy of banning proselytizing and excluding parishioners became less harsh. In books Catholic Church of Vietnam, author Nguyen Hong Duong writes: "This period began with the Peace Treaty of the Year of Nim Tuat (1862) of the Nguyen Dynasty, in which the Nguyen Dynasty lifted the ban on religion. It is noteworthy that in 1869, King Tu Duc issued two edicts, one of which allowed Catholics to gather in separate villages, with Catholic chiefs."
Located on a 5,000-metre campus2, Mong Lang Church is surrounded by green gardens. Under the foliage, the vast courtyard catches the shadow of the tall building. The rows of stone benches were silent, lying in straight lines.
Mong Lang Church is built in gothic style, typical architectural style of cathedrals as well as many European civil works. Gothic architecture originated in France, developed in the second half of the Middle Ages in Western Europe and prevailed until the end of the 16th century. Characteristic of gothic architecture are curved, wide arches, pointed arched doors, high masonry walls and numerous windows. However, after more than a century, Mong Lang Church has now put on a gray and faded mantle. The closer you get, the more visible the footprints of time become, imprinted on the cracks and peeling on the walls.
Besides Mong Lang Church, many Catholic churches built centuries ago still exist today. Compared to other gothic buildings such as Cathedral (Hanoi), Notre Dame Cathedral (Ho Chi Minh City), Phat Diem Church (Ninh Binh), Mong Lang Church is smaller in scale and the architecture is also somewhat simplified. After many restorations, some parts of Phu Yen's oldest church have changed compared to the original version. However, Gothic architectural features are still clearly present.
Stepping through the main door, the large, magnificent space of the sanctuary opens. The atmosphere was calm, quiet, the breath of a hundred years echoed in every wall and arch. After being destroyed in a great storm in 1924, the ceiling of the cathedral was remade of flat wood, no longer a curved, wide, soaring dome.
The art decoration of Mong Lang Church is quite sophisticated and meticulous. On the front of the church, on the arches and columns, it is not difficult to see European-style decorative patterns, but interwoven is pure Vietnamese carvings on wooden doors. This is the intersection of European and Eastern lines of Mong Lang Church.
On the church grounds, a false hill covered with green grass has a door leading into the cave. Stepping from the outside to the inside, the pieces of the past kept here are "unveiled" one by one. This cave is a miniature museum storing documents, reliefs, pictures about the life of Blessed Andrew Phu Yen along with images of Mong Lang church through each period. In particular, this place also holds the first national language book.
According to Saigoneer