St. Sophia Orthodox Cathedral was built in 1907 after the completion of the
Trans-Siberian Railway in 1903, which connected
Vladivostok to northeast China. The Russian No. 4 Army Division arrived in this region just after Russia's loss to the Japanese in the
Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). St. Sophia Church was built and completed of timber in March, 1907 as part of a plan to reconsolidate the confidence of the army by building an imposing spiritual symbol. In 1921, Harbin had a population of 300,000, including 100,000 Russians. The church was expanded and renovated from September 23, 1923, when a ceremony was held to celebrate the laying of the
cornerstone, to its completion on November 25, 1932, after nine years. The present-day St. Sophia Church was hailed as a monumental work of art and the largest Orthodox church in the
Far East. According to Harbin municipal religious and Daoli district archives, Fotiy Huo Desheng was the ninth rector of St. Sophia Church of Harbin.
Description ,
Ukraine, ca. 1900, was the inspiration for the St. Sophia Cathedral in Harbin. The church is located on the corner of Toulong Street (Toulong Jie) and Zhaolin Street. It stands at tall, occupies an area of , and is the perfect example of
Russian Revival architecture. The main structure is laid out like a cross with the main hall topped with a huge green-tipped dome. Under the bright sun, the church and the square area it stands on look quite like
Red Square in Moscow.
Closure Following the establishment of the
People's Republic of China (PRC) in mainland China in 1949 by the victorious Communists, who ended all Christian missionary work, treaties were signed between the Soviet and Chinese governments that provided for the turning over of Russian churches to Chinese control. The cathedral was thus closed from the period of the
Great Leap Forward (1958–61) through the
Cultural Revolution (1966–76). Although the cathedral's sturdy structure withstood its intended destruction during the Cultural Revolution, its empty hull became a warehouse for a nearby state-run department store, its windows were bricked up and saplings grew from the roof. Prefabricated concrete high-rises boxed the church in on all four sides, coming within yards of its walls, making the cathedral inaccessible and invisible from the street. For decades it remained the invisible center of the city, surrounded by decorative material stalls, an auto body shop, a pen factory, and apartments for city government employees, until the Beijing government designated the cathedral a national cultural heritage site in 1996 as part of a nationwide campaign to protect historical sites.
Restoration of the Cathedral (Old Harbin Nostalgia) Following its designation in 1996 as a national cultural heritage site (First class Preserved Building), a newspaper article about the "hidden" cathedral prompted donations from locals to restore the church. Local corporations, individual businesses as well as workers from nearby department stores donated money to restore the cathedral and renovate the square. A total of 12,000,000 yuan (approximately $1.5 million US) were eventually gathered and the cathedral regained its visibility in 1997, as the surrounding buildings were torn down. A new "Harbin Architecture Square" conspicuously highlighted the cathedral with a huge new fountain at its entrance. The European-looking space was assigned a new meaning as the embodiment of culture and art and was re-presented to the public as the proud heritage of the city. The restoration was the culmination of the Harbin municipal government's attempt to turn the city's colonial era structures into tourist attractions by restoring and granting them landmark status. The restored structures are said to signify civilization
(wenming) and culture
(wenhua). ==Gallery==