Father Alfred Fräbel designed St. Michael's Cathedral in Qingdao, and the Divine Word Missionaries built it. Construction began on May 5, 1931, and it was consecrated on October 28, 1934. After Hitler's government barred overseas money transfers in 1933, the diocese paid to finish it, which required design changes to cut costs.
The exterior is neo-Romanesque, resembling a twelfth-century German cathedral. The cruciform plan is 216 feet (65.9 meters) long. Twin towers with Rhenish helm spires rise 184 feet (56 meters), each topped by a 15-foot cross. It is built of reinforced concrete and granite with red tile roofs, and it holds over 1,000 people.
Red Guards removed the crosses and damaged the building during the Cultural Revolution. The government repaired it and reopened it for worship in 1981, and the original crosses were found buried nearby in 2005. Shandong listed it as a Provincial Historic Building in 1992.
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