A Century of Changes, Overlooking the Sea and Listening to the Waves | Wanghailou Church in Tianjin

⛪️Wanghailou Church, formerly known as the Church of Our Lady of Victory, is located at the west end of Shizilin Street in Hebei District, diagonally opposite Shizilin Bridge, and is named after its old site, Wanghailou. It was completed at the end of 1859 and has a European Gothic architectural style. The church was burned down in the "Tianjin Church Case" in 1870 and rebuilt in 1897. It was burned down again in the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 and was rebuilt for the second time in 1904, when it was lengthened and widened on the original church body, forming the layout of today. Although the church has been burned down and rebuilt, the front face has never been moved and the basic shape has not changed. The plan is rectangular, 55 meters long and 16 meters wide, with a building area of 812 square meters. The church body faces south with the north, is 10 meters high, and has a stone foundation and brick and wood structure, with a blue brick wall and pointed arch doors and windows. There are three towers on the front of the church, which look like a pen holder from a distance, and the middle tower is 12 meters high. There are eight columns on each side of the main hall, supporting the arched dome, forming three corridors. The north end is the main altar. The third batch of national key cultural relics protection units, as an important site of the "Tianjin Church Case", is the first Catholic church to enter Tianjin. ⏰Opening hours: Open on Sundays, Catholic holidays, and during weekday religious activities (daily Mass times: 6:30, 7:30), other times can only be visited from the outside