Located around 100 kilometers to the south of Hanoi, Nam Dinh Province is said to have been the heartland of Catholicism before the word was spread across Vietnam hundreds of years ago by Portuguese preachers. It is still home to one of the largest populations of Catholics in the country today. Churches here stand out with bold silhouettes and strike both believers and non-believers alike.
On the beach of Nam Dinh, there is a church that stopped receiving parishioners years ago. The abandoned church has instead become a go-to place for newly-weds and anyone with an Instagram account.
Known locally as the church of the "heart", it has been abandoned since 1995. |
Though standing stoic and alone, it used to be part of a church complex on this very beach |
Time and global warming have taken their toll, and Christian locals have tried three times to move the church inland to protect it from rising sea levels. |
The church was named St. Maria Madalena Church, and built in 1943. |
What's left of the church is only a skeleton. All the inside has been damaged. |
When the tide is in, the church is flooded with up to one meter of water. When the tide is out, the church makes the ideal backdrop for any wedding photo or souvenir snapshot to take home. |
Photo by VnExpress/Le Bich
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