a clock tower while the east tower serves as a bell tower, inside which there used to be five large bells shipped in from France in the 19th century, although nowadays only four remain as one was given to a local church in Guangxi province in the early 1980s. The cathedral, like most of the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe, is built of solid masonry. It is one of the few churches in the world to be entirely built of granite, including all the walls, pillars and the twin towers. The stones were extracted from the quarries of the Four hills of Kowloon and were transported from Kowloon, Hong Kong by sailing ships. Repairs Since its completion in 1888, the cathedral has undergone three major repairs. The first time was in the 1920s and 1930s, when then Bishop Antoine-Pierre-Jean Fourquet, M.E.P. (), replaced the timber roof, beams and steel staircases with concrete ones. A second repair took place after the Cultural Revolution in the 1980s. Recently between 2004 and 2006 the largest repair works were carried out. The church paid ¥3 million and local Catholics donated about ¥2 million for the ¥26 million project, while the rest was covered by the local government. The aim of the restoration was to solve the problem of leakage by rebuilding the whole roof, which was the most challenging task as the rib vault below needed to remain untouched and intact. Most of 19th century stained glass was damaged during wartime and smashed in the Cultural Revolution, so new stained glass was ordered from a Philippine company specialising in church glass. It resulted in the new stained glass carrying English descriptions instead of Latin and French texts of the original French glass. New lighting, audio and CCTV systems were also installed. The original French mechanical clock has long gone, so a new 750,000-yuan clock tailored for the clock tower was ordered from a Chinese clock factory. Mass times Weekdays: 06:45 (Cantonese) Saturday: 06:45 (Cantonese), 16:00 (Korean), 19:30 (Mandarin) Sunday: 07:00 (Cantonese), 08:30 (Cantonese), 10:30 (Mandarin), 15:30 (English) Gallery See also Christianity & Catholicism in China Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Guangzhou List of Catholic cathedrals in China References Roman Catholic cathedrals in China Churches in Guangzhou Yuexiu District Gothic Revival church buildings in China Roman Catholic churches in Guangdong Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Guangdong