UNESCO announced the designation of a number of villages in northwest Kyushu as the 18th UNESCO World Heritage location in Japan.
The 10 villages that make up the designation are part of the history of Christianity in Japan. Worshipping Christianity was banned until the late 1800s, so many Japanese followers of the religion practiced in secret. The secret churches are the reasons for the World Heritage site designation.
One of the most visible aspects of the new designation is Nagasaki’s Roman Catholic St. Mary’s Cathedral, built in 1914 and destroyed in 1945 by the atomic bombing. A replica was consecrated in 1959.
According to Japan, Nagasaki acted as the entry point for many people coming into the nation. Nagasaki was declared a free port in 1859, which led to the proliferation of Western cultures and religions.
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