Photographs of Old Haerbin Grace the Walls of the Haerbin Architectural Art Museum 哈尔滨建筑艺术馆
The Haerbin Architectural Art Museum was not the splendid museum I imagined it to be. The interiors of the church were in a sorry state. Probably because they still have not decided what to do with it, restore it or leave it as it is. The church has seen a few wars here and it is said that there were bullet holes somewhere in the church. There wasn’t much religious stuff in here, there was no altar and no crucifix even. The walls were dark and whatever paintings that used to be there were no longer visible. Instead where were replaced by galleries of photos of Haerbin’s past.
Chandelier Hanging from the Dome Above in the Haerbin Architectural Art Museum 哈尔滨建筑艺术馆
There were photos of Haerbin as it looked like back when the Russians were still here and I can tell you that it looked more like Europe than China. There were naturally photos of select Russian inspired architecture, some of them still standing like the Saint Sophia Church. I was kind of expecting the museum to be more about China’s architectural heritage but this seems to focus more on Haerbin’s heritage. It wasn’t really that big of a deal since no other city would be able to boast of a heritage such as the one Haerbin has.
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