St. Sophia Church
St. Sophia Church in Harbin is the largest Eastern Orthodox Church in the Far East. The Russian influence in Harbin, including a continuing strong Russian population here, is no better felt than a wander around the streets that make up the Daoli district, in the northwest of the city.
Among the many Orthodox churches and Russian style facades in this region, the St. Sophia Orthodox Church (Shengsuo feiya dajiaotang) is the most impressive, and imposing, structure.
In 1903, with the completion of the Sino-Russia railway, connecting Vladivostok to northeast China, the Russian No.4 Army Division arrived in this region. After Russia’s shameful failure against the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), a plan to reconsolidate the confidence of the army by building a imposing spiritual symbol was proposed. Thus the magnificent St. Sofia Church was born, completed in 1907. Large scale expansion and renovation then started in 1923, and after a nine years’ intensive job, the biggest Orthodox church in the far east was finally completed and stood much as it does today.
The 53m tall church is a perfect example of Byzantine architecture: the main structure of the church is laid out as a Latin Cross with the main hall topped with a huge green tipped roof. Under the bright sun, the church, together with the square around it, reminds the Chinese, bizarrely, of the Red Square in Moscow. Although there are still several hundred Orthodox believers in Harbin, the religious activities are usually conducted in other smaller churches. St. Sofia Church is nowadays used as the Municipal Architecture and Art Museum with exhibitions of the architectural history of the city, a photographic survey with captions all in Chinese.
The Byzantine style church is so beautiful, it is said to look as if it had been made by God’s hands. In fact, St. Sophia means ‘God’s wisdom’. Having a Latin cross footprint, the church’s original shape was preserved during reconstruction. The church has four floors and is accessible by a door on each side. Until the 1960′s, the bell tower over the entrance housed 7 bells of different sizes and tones. When there were religious festivals in the past, a well-trained ringer would play musical progressions, tolling the bells with ropes tied to his hands and feet. The bells resounded to the skies.
By the 1990′s, St. Sophia had undergone considerable decline. The church no longer was in use, and residential apartments and office buildings surrounded it. Magnificent Russian painted murals that adorned the church’s arched walls were destroyed out of recognition. While in 1997, the Harbin government under took to undo the decades of deterioration. But as the original Russian murals were lost completely, they were replaced by topically new murals depicting the architectural history of the Harbin community. And crosses that were removed in six places were replaced. Now, the murals, pendent lamps, dome and the bell tower are restored to their original splendor.
Tickets: CMY 25
Opening hours: 9am-5pm
Address: On the corner of Toulin Street (Toulin jie) and Zhaolin Street (Zhaolin jie)
Bus Route: 1, 2, 13, 15, 64, 66, 113
Take bus No.101 from the Railway Station to the church or bus No.2 from Stalin Park
A taxi ride from the city center costs less than CNY15
