Sacred Heart Cathedral, Gothic Revival cathedral in Ningbo, China.
Sacred Heart Cathedral is a single-tower Gothic Revival church built in 1872 at 2 Zhongma Road, Jiangbei. Its 43.94-metre-long Latin-cross plan has a 30-metre bell tower, a 795-square-metre interior with 24 columns, and a roof of local tube tiles over timber beams. The west front uses blue brick with red-brick accents and three pointed portals of Ningbo Meiyuan stone.
Built from 1871 and completed in 1872 as the Church of the Seven Sorrows of Mary, it was raised to cathedral status in 1876. French clergy led the parish until 1953, when Chinese clergy took over. Religious activity stopped in 1963, when the army occupied the building; it reopened on 24 December 1980 under the name Sacred Heart. A fire on 28 July 2014 collapsed the roof and wrecked the bell tower; restoration was completed in 2016.
The name changed in 1980 from Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows to the Sacred Heart. Mass is held twice each Sunday, morning and evening, and the parish also runs charity work for the elderly. The church is a common backdrop for wedding photographs, and after the 2014 fire local media ran the headline "half the city has lost its love".
The cathedral is typically open to visitors during daytime hours on weekdays, though hours vary during religious holidays and special services. Respectful behavior is important since it functions as an active place of worship where services occur regularly.
The 2014 fire destroyed the roof and bell tower over about 500 m²; the 2015–2016 restoration replaced later grey tiles with the original green tubular tiles and reused as much of the damaged tower clock as possible. The tomb of Bishop Paul-Marie Reynaud, who died in 1883, stands within the church grounds.
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