Why pilgrims come
Discover what makes Sacred Heart Chapel, Sungai Bawan a place of pilgrimage
An 1898 belian-wood mission chapel beside Sungai Bawan, restored for continuing worship and designated a diocesan pilgrimage centre in 2025; its architecture and art carry generations of Iban Catholic memory.
Visit through parish coordination and let the Iban community's living custodianship lead. The chapel remains worship space, heritage, and community memory—not just a mission artifact.
What to notice
Look closely at the place and its story
Belian timber chapel
Study vernacular construction adapted to heat, rain, and river life.
Iban Catholic continuity
Recognize the community that has prayed, restored, and interpreted the chapel.
Renewed pilgrimage centre
Understand the 2025 restoration as a new phase in an older sacred place.
How to read this page
Sources, tradition, and what is verified
No verification date is listed, so current visitor details should be confirmed directly.
This page records the site’s tradition as “Catholic.” That wording describes the nature of the claim and keeps devotional tradition distinct from independently verified history.