Description of the attraction
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Yangon is a Catholic church built in the neo-Gothic style at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in the Botakhtaung area. The history of this cathedral began at the end of the 19th century. Then the vicar of Burma, Paul Bigandet, appealed to the colonial authorities of British India with a request for permission to buy a plot of land and build on it a large Catholic church and a school for an ever-increasing number of parishioners. Permission was granted only in 1893.
Work on the cathedral began in 1895. The plans for the future sacred building were provided by the Dutch architect Jos Kuypers. Father Hendrik Janzen made some changes to the design of the cathedral, including an increase in the building by more than 9 meters. Due to the instability of the soil, before the construction of the cathedral, about three meters of sand was poured into its base and several hundred wooden piles were driven. Bricks and concrete blocks imitating stone were used as building materials. The western part of the cathedral was the seat of the bishop and St. Paul's school for boys, which was nationalized in the 1960s.
In the 1930s, during an earthquake, the vault of the cathedral partially collapsed, but did not cause serious damage to church property. In 1944, an aerial bomb hit the temple and knocked out a valuable stained glass window. It was subsequently restored. Cyclone Nargis added destruction to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in 2008.
Now in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, services are regularly held. Tourists are also welcome here, who are allowed into the temple to inspect its interior at a time when there are no services here.
