The Dormition Church 圣母安息教堂

东直门北中街4号
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of North and East of the Imperial City

The Russians set up a base in Běijīng nearly two centuries before any other Europeans. The first version of what is now the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos Church, in the northeast corner of the city, was completed in 1685, and featured in the very earliest guidebooks:

In the same quarter of the city, not far from the N. E. corner of the wall, are the buildings of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission… In the reign of Kan-hi [Kāngxī, r. 1662–1722], at the end of the war with the Russian Colonists on the Amoor, it was arranged that the Russian captives, then brought to Peking and incorporated among the bannermen, should be placed for religious instruction and superintendence under the care of Russian priests. Thus, the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission was established under the control of an Archimandrite, who at the same time held the office of political agent for the Russian Government and resided at the present Russian Legation. When, in 1859, a Minister was appointed, the Archimandrite took up his residence at the Pei-kuan, where part of the priests already lived. The russian Christians, who are not very numerous, have entirely become Chinese in language and customs, but have retained their own religious observances. The Pei-kuan contains dwelling houses for the priests, a chapel and a very rich Chinese library; attached to it is a European astronomical observatory. The observations taken here, especially those of the learned Dr. Fritsche, are in a high degree valuable, as far as mathematical geography and climatology of North China is concerned.

Anonymous, Guide for Tourists to Peking and its environs, Tiānjīn, 1897

After the first church was destroyed by an earthquake in 1730, a second was built in 1732 and lasted until it was destroyed by the Boxers in 1900. A replacement was built by 1904 but destroyed in 1957, when several important icons also went missing. The current building was originally intended as a temporary edifice while other orthodox churches, including that at the Russian Cemetery, were being reconstructed.

During the Soviet era it was used as a garage, but after a lavish restoration it was re-opened in 2009 and is now the only Orthodox church in Běijīng. The Russian Cemetery, just outside the walls, which was the first burial place of the British envoys murdered in 1860, is now a public park, Qīngnián Hú Gōngyuán (青年湖公园). There are rumours of escaped minor members of the Russian royal family buried there, with different accounts as to whether this is beneath the lake, the car park, or the golf course. The British bodies were moved following the Boxer Rebellion to a newly opened British cemetery just west of the ciy walls, now also a public park, Nán Lǐshì Lù Gōngyuán (南礼士路公园). There’s no sign of any monument there, either.

▶ Shèngmǔ Ānxī Jiàotáng, Dōng Zhī Mén Zhōng Jiē 4, t 135 5264 3074, orthodoxbj.com. Free. nb Open by special arrangement and to non-Chinese citizens only. Send name and phone number as a text message. Passport required for admission. m Dōng Zhí Mén (Lines 2, 10, & Airport Express) exit A, walk W then N. b to 东直门北小街南口: 406, 612, 674.

Walk west one block along Mín’ān Jiē, and turn left (south) down Dōng Zhī Mén Běi Xiǎo Jiē to find the Tōngjiào Sì.

Next in North and East of the Imperial City: Dōng Yuè Miào
Previously: Tōngjiào Sì
Main Index of A Better Guide to Beijing.

For discussion of China travel, see The Oriental-List.