A 120-year-old Protestant church, one of the oldest in Shanghai, was ravaged by a fire in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Oriental Morning Post reported on Thursday.

 

 

The fire broke out at the gothic-style Union Church at around 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday. It was put out about two hours later but the damage had been done; the framework remained intact but the interior was gutted and part of the roof collapsed.

 

The church has not been a place of worship since 1949 but the municipal government was in the process of drawing up a renovation plan as part of the city's cultural heritage protection plan.

 

"It's a great pity. The renovation for the church will definitely be affected and we will have to draw up a new plan," said Chang Qing, a professor with the architecture school of the Tongji University, who is in charge of the renovation project.

 

The church, which was built in 1886, is situated on the southern bank of the Suzhou River and is close to the former British consulate. It ceased to function in 1949 when it became the offices of the Shanghai Lighting and Luminaire Limited Company.

 

The company moved its offices out of the church a year ago on the orders of the Shanghai municipal government and the church has been empty ever since.

 

When the renovation is completed, the church is not expected to reopen as a place of worship. No plan has been finalized.

 

The cause of the fire is under investigation, but police suspect the fire was caused by vagrants using the empty church as a shelter, citing the discovery of beer bottles and playing cards at the site.

 

Shanghai has more than 400 churches, of which 264 are open to the public. The city also has more than 180,000 Protestants and 140,000 Catholics, according to the Shanghai Municipal Committee of Ethnic and Religions Affairs.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2007)