A bronze relief of the 26 figures stands on Nishizaka Hill, just north of Nagasaki Station, on the exact site of the executions. The adjoining museum is small but rich — it holds a kakure kirishitan secret altar, fumi-e (the bronze plaques of Mary and Jesus that suspected Christians were forced to tread upon to prove they were not Catholic), and letters from missionaries written under threat of death. The strikingly modern church next door, designed by Kenji Imai in 1962, is worth a look from the outside even if it is closed.
Twenty-Six Martyrs Monument
A story
On 5 February 1597 twenty-six Catholics — six European Franciscans, three Japanese Jesuits, and seventeen Japanese laymen including three boys aged 12 to 14 — were crucified here on Nishizaka Hill on the orders of the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The youngest, Louis Ibaraki, sang hymns as he climbed onto his cross. They were canonized by Pope Pius IX in 1862.