In the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam, more than two thousand majestic cathedrals stand as resilient witnesses to faith during the fractious colonial period of the 19th and early 20th centuries. These monuments eloquently fuse French Gothic and Romanesque styles with Vietnamese architectural traditions. Using local materials such as stone, ironwood, and brick, these churches were constructed to withstand the tropical Vietnamese climate and environment, symbolizing the merging of cultures and the growing influence of Catholicism in the region.

Initially evangelical tools for the Catholic Church, over time, the cathedrals transcended their colonial roots, organically embedding themselves in Vietnam’s political, cultural, and religious landscape. This volume unfolds a dramatic narrative of these historic edifices. Here, photographer Peter Steinhauer documents many significant examples of these cathedrals, which display the fusion of French and Vietnamese architectural virtuosity in every stone, arch, and spire.

Attesting to an era of diverse cultural shifts and transformations, many of these architectural marvels now face neglect, deterioration, or intentional dismantlement. Spires seeks to commemorate these remarkable structures—and the complex narratives rooted in their time-tested foundations.

Hoàng Thúc Hào, one of Vietnam’s most well-known living architects, together with his colleagues Nguyễn Ngọc Lân and Phạm Long, and critic Thúy Đinh, contribute an architectural essay on Catholic cathedrals of Vietnam, most of which are located in Nam Định, Thái Bình Ninh Bình and Hà Nam — the four provinces where Catholicism first came into Vietnam around 1533. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, author of the internationally best-selling novels The Mountains Sing and Dust Child, addresses the complex history of Catholicism in Vietnam in her essay.

Book is sold and available from my publisher MW Editions. www.mweditions.com

Hardback with jacket
10 x 11 inches
128 pages
100 color illustrations
ISBN: 979-8-9877845-7-0