World

Taiwan builds giant glass shoe church to attract female worshipers

The church is made almost entirely out of blue-tinted glass and resembles the glass slipper from Disney's Cinderella

News Desk January 18, 2016

PHOTO: NEW CHINA

A 55-feet tall tinted blue glass church in the shape of a high-heeled shoe has been built in Taiwan in a bid to attract more female worshipers and tourists.

Made with over 320 tinted glass panels, the shiny blue church took over two months to build and cost about $686,000, according to the BBC.

The church which resembles the glass slipper from Disney's Cinderella is located in Ocean View Park in Budai Town, on the east coast of Taiwan.

PHOTO: CHINA ONE

According to some, the church has been tailor-made for women and includes attractive design features such as chairs for 'lovers', maple leaves, cakes and biscuits.

Although it is set to formally open on February 8, the unique structure is already attracting tourists from across the globe.

PHOTO: CHINA ONE

Some have been critical of the concept, terming it sexist and the ultimate gendered product.

Twitter received its fair share of reviews as pictures of the high-heeled church surfaced across social media.

https://twitter.com/dsyedasad/status/687891464072736768

The Fashionable Church Building, Huge High-Heel Shoe - https://t.co/CdWUEqEE9y pic.twitter.com/8TbtkxOdGf
— Africayaa (@africayaa) January 9, 2016

The fashionable church building is located in the Southwest Coast Scenic Area in Taiwan. The huge high-heel shoe... https://t.co/OAdPGhaFTD
— N.234 (@N_234) January 9, 2016

This church was actually designed to look like a high-heel shoe to attract more females: https://t.co/P4Xsn9d4Lq pic.twitter.com/AL2hc3gGnj
— Complex Style (@ComplexStyle) January 12, 2016

Town Builds Giant Church Shaped Like High Heel for Women - https://t.co/LWU7F8Nizc
— hyperallergic (@hyperallergic) January 14, 2016

Taiwan town builds high-heel shaped church to lure women, or maybe just one giant woman? https://t.co/a3tiOu5SLW pic.twitter.com/kMdomqnFf0
— Paul Mozur 孟建國 (@paulmozur) January 15, 2016

Church built in the shape of a high heel in hopes of attracting women https://t.co/bmphnFY155 cc: @xeni pic.twitter.com/TugM8DwMaq
— Christian Nightmares (@ChristnNitemare) January 14, 2016

Ultimate gendered product? Church built in #Taiwan in the shape of a high-heel to entice more women to attend. https://t.co/ddViq44wxt
— CatalystInc (@CatalystInc) January 15, 2016

This article originally appeared on BBC.

COMMENTS (2)

Tony Tsai | 9 years ago | Reply Not sure how the original message gets lost in translation, but this article says something that is opposite to what I read in a Taiwanese news. The buliding is near my hometown. According to the officer in the local city government, this architecture is built to commemorate girls who suffered from blackfoot disease. It is a disease due to arsenic poisoning in the water in the west coast of Taiwan and often lead to amputation. Girls who suffered from blackfoot disease dreamed about wearing the high heel shoes in their wedding but they can't because they are amputated. This architecture is built to commemorate the victims and will be used for local people to take wedding photos. It won't be used for any religious ceremonies. Therefore, there is no motivation at all for them to attract female worshippers. If you can read Chinese, this link of a Taiwanese newspaper is a reference to what I just said http://a.udn.com/focus/2016/01/13/16813/index.html

Ayesha | 9 years ago | Reply Isn't a Shoe designed ladies Church is a dis-respect to the respective religion? As Chinese eat any or every thing, so with that philosophy they pray any or every where which is attractive.

Replying to X