St. Joseph's Cathedral went up in 1886 on land cleared from the Bao Thien Pagoda, a sacred Buddhist site that the French colonial authorities demolished to make room for it. The building is modeled closely on Notre-Dame de Paris — twin towers, pointed arches, stained glass — scaled to fit a Vietnamese city street rather than a European cathedral square. It was the first major building the French constructed in Hanoi after establishing colonial control, and it remains the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hanoi.
The interior is more intimate than the facade suggests. Masses are still held daily, and on Sunday mornings the plaza in front fills with parishioners spilling out onto the surrounding streets — an unusual sight in a city that otherwise keeps its religious life relatively private. The neighborhood around the cathedral, with its French-era lanes and old villas, is one of the most pleasant for an aimless walk in central Hanoi. A cluster of upscale cafes and small boutiques has settled in around it, though the cathedral itself remains a working church rather than a tourist destination.