PHU CAM CATHEDRAL

Phu Cam Cathedral is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Hue, located on Phuoc Qua Hill, in Phuoc Vinh Ward, Hue City. This is one of the largest, famous and oldest church in Hue. Today’s church is built in modern architecture, designed by architect Ngo Viet Thu.

In the 17th century, under the Nguyen lords, “Phu Cam” (柑 柑) was originally a the prince’s residence. In 1682, Father Langlois built the Phu Cam chapel of bamboo at Stone neighbor near the An Cuu River. Two years later, the priest demolished the chapel and bought land on Phuoc Qua hill to build a larger church and solidified by stone, the church turned west. After two centuries, in 1898, Bishop Eugene Marie Allys (Bishop Ly) built the new Phu Cam church with brick, tile roofs are quite bulky in the old location but face north. This work, which was designed and supervised by the bishop, was completed in 1902.

In 1960, after the Diocese of Hue was elevated to Archdiocese and Archbishop Phêrô Máctinô Ngo Đinh Thuc from Vinh Long to assume the office of Archbishop of Hue, he destroyed the whole old Cam Cam church and started to build the new cathedral with the project made by architect Ngo Viet Thu.

Phu Cam Church was built in early 1963 but progress was very slow due to many incidents such as the coup in November 1, 1963 and the damage by bombs during Tet Mau Than. On June 28 and 29, after nearly 40 years of construction, the new Phu Cam cathedral was completed.