Phát Diệm Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phát Diệm, in Kim Sơn District, Ninh Bình Province, Vietnam, about 121 kilometers from Hanoi. Father Trần Lục, known as Père Six, built it. Groundbreaking was in 1875, and it was completed and consecrated in 1891. Its style is described as Vietnamese-Gothic eclecticism, blending traditional Vietnamese architecture with European neo-Gothic stone walls.
The cathedral is about 64 meters long and 18 meters wide, and the nave rests on 52 pillars, 16 of them ironwood columns about 11 meters tall. Box-type cupolas with upturned tiled roofs resemble pagodas. The interior walls carry Catholic imagery beside dragons, unicorns, tortoises and phoenixes.
The complex includes five chapels, three grottoes and a bell tower. A bombing on August 15, 1972 collapsed the west wall, and it was later restored.
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