The oldest standing church in Japan, built in 1864 for the foreign community of the open port and dedicated to the 26 martyrs crucified in 1597. The white-painted, three-spired Gothic Revival exterior sits at the top of a stone staircase just below Glover Garden — a memorable approach. The interior is more austere than the front facade suggests, with imported stained glass that survived the bomb intact, well outside the blast radius. A UNESCO World Heritage site and a National Treasure of Japan.
Oura Church
A story
Just weeks after the church opened in 1865, a group of farmers from Urakami approached the French priest and quietly revealed that they were Christians. They were descendants of converts hidden for seven generations after the religion was banned in 1614 — Pope Pius IX called the moment the 'discovery of the Christians of the Orient.' It triggered renewed persecution before religious freedom was finally granted in 1873.