Sacred Heart Cathedral, Roman Catholic cathedral in Guangzhou, China

The Sacred Heart Cathedral is a Gothic Revival Roman Catholic cathedral on Yide Road, built entirely of light brown granite. Its facade has two towers with spires and a clock on the west tower, a large rose window above three pointed-arch portals, and a gable topped by a cross. The twin towers reach 52.76 metres; the nave is 28.2 metres high.

Construction began on 28 June 1861, the Feast of the Sacred Heart, and the foundation was completed in 1863; the cathedral was finished in 1888 after 25 years. Bishop Philippe François Zéphirin Guillemin, who had secured the site from the Qing government in January 1861, died in Paris in 1886 and never saw it completed. His successor, Bishop Augustin Chausse, supervised the final stage.

The building is known locally as Shishi or Stone House, reflecting its solid granite blocks brought from Hong Kong. Services take place several days a week and draw both residents and visitors into a space that blends European forms with Cantonese building traditions.

The cathedral opens to the public every day, morning and afternoon; visitors may walk around freely outside Mass times, but during services they should stay seated and not move about. Non-Catholics may attend Mass, though on Easter and Christmas seating is given first to Catholics. The stone steps at the entrance, once seven, now show five because of accumulated soil and a raised ground level.

The east tower once held five large bells shipped from France in the 19th century; only four remain, as one was given to a church in Guangxi in the early 1980s. The west tower carries the clock. The granite came from quarries in Kowloon, Hong Kong, carried to Guangzhou by sailing ship.