Urakami Cathedral (浦上天主堂)

This Roman Catholic cathedral was built during the Meiji era, after the overthrowing of the Tokugawa shogunate, under whose rule Christianity and other foreign religions were outlawed. It was built by former "kakure Christians" (covert Christians) who wanted a place of worship now that the oppression of the Tokugawa Shogunate was gone, and was built on a location where the Tokugawa Shogunate would interrogate suspected Christians. It was destroyed by the atomic bomb in 1945, but was rebuilt in 1959 on the exact same spot where it had been destroyed. In front of this new cathedral are the statues of saints, charred and broken from the atomic bomb. These statues are covered in origami cranes and serve as a memorial to the thousands who lost their lives.

Urakami Cathedral, January 7th, 1946

The original bell tower remains on the grounds, destroyed by the bomb, and the rest of the remains of the original building are on display in Nagasaki's Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Museum. This cathedral was built to commemorate the suffering of Christians during the Tokugawa period, and demonstrates the radical change during the Meiji Restoration to religious freedom and acceptance of Western ideas.

The Uramaki Cathedral is a great site to visit as it shows the damage of the atomic bomb and how Nagasaki has rebuilt after that tragic event.