# Oura Church > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Oura_Church > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Oura_Church.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oura_Church > Source revision: 1354367921 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Infobox church | denomination = [Catholic](/source/Catholic_Church) | name = Basilica of the Twenty-Six Holy Martyrs of Japan | image = Oura_Cathedral_20180623.jpg | image_size = 250px | native_name = 日本二十六聖殉教者聖堂 | country = Japan | location = [Nagasaki](/source/Nagasaki) | tradition = [Latin Rite](/source/Latin_Church) | dedication = [26 Martyrs of Japan](/source/26_Martyrs_of_Japan) | style = [Gothic Revival](/source/Gothic_Revival_architecture) | completed = 1864 | archdiocese = [Archdiocese of Nagasaki](/source/Archdiocese_of_Nagasaki) | embedded ={{box|background=white|align=center|wide=yes|border size=3px|border color=gold|text align=center|[World Heritage Site](/source/World_Heritage_Site)}} {{box|background=white|align=center|wide=yes|border size=3px|border color=red|text align=center|[National Treasure](/source/National_Treasure_(Japan))}} {{box|background=white|align=center|wide=yes|border size=3px|border color=brown|text align=center|[National Historic Site of Japan](/source/Monuments_of_Japan)}} }} thumb|Oura Tenshudo Temple, Hand-tinted Postcard (Meiji) The {{nihongo|'''Oura Church'''|大浦天主堂|''Ōura Tenshudō''}} or '''Oura Cathedral''', officially the '''Basilica of the Twenty-Six Holy Martyrs of Japan'''{{Cite web|url=http://www.gcatholic.org/churches/asia/5734.htm|title=Basilica of the Twenty-Six Holy Martyrs of Japan (Oura Church), 長崎 (Nagasaki), 長崎県 (Nagasaki), Japan|website=www.gcatholic.org|access-date=2017-01-31}} ({{lang|ja|日本二十六聖殉教者聖堂}}), is a [Catholic](/source/Catholic_Church) [minor basilica](/source/minor_basilica) and [co-cathedral](/source/co-cathedral) in [Nagasaki](/source/Nagasaki%2C_Nagasaki), [Japan](/source/Japan), built soon after the end of the Japanese government's [Seclusion Policy](/source/Sakoku) in 1853. It is named after the [26 Japanese Martyrs](/source/26_Martyrs_of_Japan). For many years it was the only Western-style building declared a [national treasure](/source/National_Treasures_of_Japan), and is said to be the oldest Christian church in Japan. ==History== In December 1862, two French priests from the [Société des Missions Étrangères](/source/Society_of_Foreign_Missions_of_Paris), Fathers [Louis Furet](/source/Louis_Furet) and [Bernard Petitjean](/source/Bernard_Petitjean), were assigned from Yokohama to Nagasaki with the intention of building a church honoring the [Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan](/source/Twenty-six_Martyrs_of_Japan) (eight European priests, one Mexican priest and seventeen Japanese Christians who were crucified in 1597 by order of [Toyotomi Hideyoshi](/source/Toyotomi_Hideyoshi)) who had been canonized the same year. They arrived in Nagasaki in 1863 and the church was finished in 1864. Constructed by the master carpenter of the [Glover Residence](/source/Glover_Garden), [Koyama Hidenoshin](/source/Koyama_Hidenoshin), it was originally a small wooden church with three aisles and three octagonal towers.Dallas Finn, ''Meiji Revisited: The Sites of Victorian Japan,'' (New York: Weatherhill, 1995), 12-13. The present structure is a much larger [Gothic](/source/Gothic_architecture) basilica that dates from around 1878. This version was built of white stuccoed brick with five aisles, vaulted ceilings, and one octagonal tower. The design most likely came from a Belgian plan used by Catholic missionaries in an earlier church built in [Osaka](/source/Osaka).Finn 13. The [stained glass](/source/stained_glass) windows were imported from France. The church was officially a chapel for the French foreign community in Japan per the [Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France and Japan](/source/Treaty_of_Amity_and_Commerce_between_France_and_Japan), as Christianity was still officially outlawed by the [Tokugawa shogunate](/source/Tokugawa_shogunate).The dedication ceremony was attended by foreign residents, as well as the captains of French, Russian, British, and Dutch ships anchored in Nagasaki Port, each accompanied by several Catholic sailors. On March 17, 1865, shortly after the completion of the original cathedral, Father Petitjean saw a group of people standing in front of the cathedral. They indicated to the priest that they wanted him to open the doors. As the priest knelt at the altar, an old woman from the group approached him and said "The heart (faith) of all of us is the same as yours. Where is the statue of Holy Mary?"Francisque Marnas, ''La Religion de Jesus Ressuscitée au Japon dans la seconde moitie de XIX siècle''., 2 vols. (Paris: Delhomme et Briguet, 1897), 487-490. [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9634054w/f581.item/ direct link] Petitjean discovered that these people were from the nearby village of [Urakami](/source/Urakami) and were [Kakure Kirishitan](/source/Kakure_Kirishitan)s, descendants of early Japanese Christians who went into hiding after the [Shimabara Rebellion](/source/Shimabara_Rebellion) in the 1630s. A white marble statue of the [Virgin Mary](/source/Mary_(mother_of_Jesus)) was imported from France and erected in the church to commemorate this event. The bronze relief in the courtyard below the church shows the memorable scene of the discovery. Before long, tens of thousands of underground Christians came out of hiding in the Nagasaki area. News of this reached [Pope Pius IX](/source/Pope_Pius_IX), who declared this "the miracle of the Orient." The building underwent a large-scale expansion and renovation from 1875 to 1891, during which the exterior walls were rebuilt with brick, giving the building a completely Gothic style, and the appearance was greatly changed from the original appearance. The new church, consecrated on May 22, 1879, was the first in Kyushu to be built with brick, as opposed to the original wooden structure. In 1891 it was designated the cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Nagasaki (now the Catholic Archdiocese of Nagasaki). Ōura Cathedral was designated as a [National Treasure](/source/National_Treasures_of_Japan) in 1933.{{cite web|url=https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/202449|title=大浦天主堂|work=Cultural Heritage Online|publisher=Agency for Cultural Affairs|language=Japanese|accessdate=5 April 2020}} During [World War II](/source/World_War_II), the cathedral was damaged by the [atomic bomb on August 9, 1945](/source/Nagasaki_bombing), but avoided collapse and burning due to being relatively far from the hypocenter.[https://www.kyushuandtokyo.org/spot_76/ Oura Cathedral, by kyushuandtokyo.org] Artifacts from the damage are in the [Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum](/source/Nagasaki_Atomic_Bomb_Museum). The National Treasure designation was affirmed on March 31, 1953, under the 1951 Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties. It was the first Western-style building in Japan to be given this honor and remained the only one until 2009 when the neo-Baroque [Akasaka Palace](/source/Akasaka_Palace) was designated a National Treasure. In 2012, the precincts of the Ōura Cathedral were designated a [National Historic Site](/source/Monuments_of_Japan).{{cite web|url=https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/270156|title=大浦天主堂境内|work=Cultural Heritage Online|publisher=Agency for Cultural Affairs|language=Japanese|accessdate=5 April 2020}} thumb|Inside of Ōura Church The church was granted status as a minor basilica by the [Holy See](/source/Holy_See) on April 26, 2016.{{Cite web|url=http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/11/09/japan_gets_its_first_minor_basilica/1271106|title = Japan gets its first minor Basilica}} On June 30, 2018, Ōura Cathedral, along with 11 other [sites linked to Catholic persecution in Japan](/source/Hidden_Christian_Sites_in_the_Nagasaki_Region), was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1495|title = Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region}}{{Cite web|url = https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/06/30/national/unesco-adds-sites-linked-history-japans-persecuted-christians-world-heritage-list/|title = UNESCO adds Japanese sites linked to persecution of Christians to World Heritage list|date = July 2018|access-date = 2018-06-30|archive-date = 2018-07-01|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180701030617/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/06/30/national/unesco-adds-sites-linked-history-japans-persecuted-christians-world-heritage-list/|url-status = dead}} ==See also== * [Christianity in Japan](/source/Christianity_in_Japan) * [Twenty-Six Martyrs Museum and Monument](/source/Twenty-Six_Martyrs_Museum_and_Monument) *[Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region](/source/Hidden_Christian_Sites_in_the_Nagasaki_Region) *[List of Historic Sites of Japan (Nagasaki)](/source/List_of_Historic_Sites_of_Japan_(Nagasaki)) ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== {{Commonscat-inline|Oura Church}} *[http://www.at-nagasaki.jp/foreign/english/spot/010.html Nagasaki City Tourism Guide - Ōura Cathedral] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510071003/http://www.at-nagasaki.jp/foreign/english/spot/010.html |date=2013-05-10 }} {{Authority control}} {{Coord|32.734106|129.870236|format=dms|display=title|type:landmark_region:JP_scale:10000}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Oura Church}} Category:Basilica churches in Japan Category:Roman Catholic churches completed in 1879 Category:19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Japan Category:National Treasures (Japan) Category:Churches in Nagasaki Prefecture Category:Roman Catholic cathedrals in Japan Category:Giyōfū architecture Category:Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region Category:Religious buildings and structures in Nagasaki Category:Hizen Province Category:World Heritage Sites in Japan Category:Historic Sites of Japan --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Oura Church](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oura_Church) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oura_Church?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.