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Gothic architecture is the key feature of the church. |
Long Song (river-bed), a church with Gothic influences, is located among fields and rivers in Phuoc Son commune, Tuy Phuoc district of Binh Dinh province.
Under the kingdom of Champa, their southern capital at Vijaya (present-day Thi Nai lagoon) was a large trading port in the 11th -15th centuries. Missionaries, including Portuguese ones, came to the place in the 17th century.
Cristophoro Borri, an Italian missionary, retold that he was warmly welcomed by an official in Quy Nhon district (today’s Quy Nhon city). He was permitted to build a church to carry on missionary work.
Their first destination was Nuoc Man (salt water) port. However, due to its inconvenience, the missionary work was then done in Long Song.
Using the trading road starting from Thi Nai lagoon, missionaries could carry out the missionary work. Long Song church was one of destinations Portuguese missionaries used as a seminary when they came to Quy Nhon.
Long Song church is located in Sanh Phuong hamlet, Phuoc Son commune, Tuy Phuoc district. Previously, it was called Lang Song (Song village) for it was enclosed by fields and rivers.
Gradually, the word “lang” was replaced with “long” owning to the locals’ pronunciation. Long song has become the name of the church until now.
The church was built using the Gothic architecture, which is most familiar as the architecture of many of the great cathedrals, abbeys and parish churches of Europe.
The church also has distinctive features of Gothic architecture, including the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress.
The front of the church is quite similar to the architecture of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Macau. The whole church is located in the middle of mound and all of its architectural features have still remained intact so far.
The central chamber is the oldest part in the church. Long Song was then used as the seminary to offer the training to priests.
No one knows when the church was built. It is said that a ceremony was held to mark the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Long Song seminary on Jan.14, 1964. Surely, it has existed for at least 165 years.
Facing the central chamber, two blocks used for seminarists were built with French architecture.
Long Song seminary has stopped operating since 1983, but it is still taken care of. The church, therefore, shows no sign of devastation.
Those who have chances to visit Long Song church may have an unforgettable experience.
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