Basilica of Our Lady in Sheshan

Brief Information

The basilica in Sheshan stands on a site that was previously occupied by a Buddhist monastery and then by a Jesuit shrine. This contrast matters not as a reference date, but as a clue to the place itself: a Catholic pilgrimage center grew on a mountain with an already established religious memory. Today it is the largest center of Christian pilgrimage in China.

The existing building appeared because the old church could no longer accommodate the pilgrims. From 1925 to 1935, a granite basilica was built to handle a larger flow of people. Later, the church was badly damaged during the Cultural Revolution, but it once again receives pilgrims; for this reason, its appearance reads not only as architecture, but also as the trace of a restored function.

What to Notice Right Away

It is worth noticing how the church is composed of vertical lines and religious symbols. The granite basilica combines elements of Neo-Gothic and Neo-Renaissance styles: one language pulls the building upward, while the other adds a more balanced classical form. Above everything rises a 38-meter bell tower, and at its top stands a 5-meter statue of the Madonna and Child.

This statue is especially important: during the Cultural Revolution it was dismantled, so the present top of the tower recalls a rupture in the church’s history. Around the basilica are chapels, and nearby is the Shanghai Observatory, founded by the Jesuits. The juxtaposition of the church, chapels, and observatory shows that Sheshan was for the Jesuits not only a place of prayer, but also a space of their scientific presence.