page_title: Achille-Antoine Hermitte
section_title: Chapel of the Tomb of St Francis Xavier
hierarchical_section_title: Achille-Antoine Hermitte / Work / Chapel of the Tomb of St Francis Xavier
caption_attribution_description: English: Plan of the Chapel of the Tomb of St Francis Xavier at Shangchuan Dao, by Achille-Antoine Hermitte. Completed in 1869
context_page_description: Achille-Antoine Hermitte was a French architect who is known for designing the Hong Kong City Hall and the Palais du Gouverneur, Saigon. His life is not well-documented and there is uncertainty about the date and place of his death. His only surviving building is the small Chapel of the Tomb of St Francis Xavier on Shangchuan Island, southwest of Guangzhou.
context_section_description: In early 1867 Bishop Guillemin wrote that, "M. Hermitte, our architect, has given us the plan which he wished to donate for St. Francis and one of our missionaries, M. Braud, is presently in place putting it into effect. Although small, the chapel will be beautiful, graceful, and its slender spire will thus raise it from the top of this rock as the soul of the Saint was raised from earth to heaven."
  The small chapel was ready early in 1869.
  The bishop wrote that it, "only measured about 10 feet long and 30 feet wide, with a small steeple rising 60 feet above; but its Gothic style, its position on a raised rock thrusting into the sea, its slender, pyramidal steeple that dominated all around it gave it a perfect elegance and gracefulness.
  The chapel was in fact 15.75 by 9.19 metres (51.7 by 30.2 ft), and the spire rose 19.05 metres (62.5 ft) above the floor.
  There was a slab in the floor that marked the place where Saint Francis Xavier had died, and there were three small wooden altars, two in niches on the north and south sides and one in the apse.
  The chapel was consecrated at 8 in the morning on 25 April 1869 in a ceremony attended by about 200 Europeans and 100 Chinese Christians.
  The chapel was sacked during the Sino-French war of 1884, and badly damaged by a typhoon in 1888-89.
  It was partially restored in 1910 and 1932.
  It was again damaged during the Japanese occupation, then neglected until the Taishan district government completely refurbished it in 1986.
  In 2006 it was again restored to make the 500th anniversary of Saint Francis's birth.
caption: Plan of the Chapel of the Tomb of St Francis Xavier at Shangchuan Dao
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