Oura Church

Oura Church is a Catholic church built by French priests of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. After the port opened in 1859 and a foreign settlement formed in Nagasaki, the church was built for the foreign Catholics living there. According to the church's chronology, the site was acquired in 1863, the building was completed in 1864, and it was dedicated the following year, in 1865. Nagasaki City presents it as the oldest church remaining in Japan.

The church is dedicated to the Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan, who were executed at Nishizaka in Nagasaki in 1597. After it was completed, hidden Christians from Urakami came and told Father Petitjean that they were Christians. They are said to have asked him where the statue of the Virgin Mary was, and the Madonna and Child he showed them is also called the Statue of Mary of the Discovery of Christians. Persecution of believers continued afterward, and the public notice boards banning Christianity were not removed until 1873.

The present building reflects enlargements and alterations made in 1875 and 1879, and both its interior and its exterior are unified in a Gothic style. The database of the Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a church with five aisles, a roof of pantiles, and an octagonal spire at its north end. The church was also damaged by the atomic bomb in 1945, and repairs were finished in 1952. It was designated a National Treasure under the old system in 1933, and again under the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties in 1953.

Inside, look for features that tell the story of the building. The large central door is said to date from the founding. The rose window that once stood on the front is thought to have been moved to a small chapel at the back during the enlargement of 1875, and that is why it escaped damage from the atomic bomb. The stained glass of Christ on the Cross behind the altar was badly damaged by the bomb, and the present window was newly ordered from Paris. The bishop's chair recalls that this church was the cathedral of Nagasaki until the see moved to Urakami Cathedral in 1962.

The statue of Our Lady of Japan was a gift from France to commemorate the Discovery of Christians. The church received the title of Minor Basilica in 2016, and in 2018 it was inscribed as a World Heritage Site as a component of the Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region. Because it is still used as a place of prayer, photography inside the church is not allowed. The Oura Church Kirishitan Museum displays items including a reduced copy of the painting of the Twenty-Six Martyrs made in 1869.