Twenty-Six Martyrs Museum

The Twenty-Six Martyrs Museum and Monument stands on Nishizaka Hill, the site where six foreign missionaries and twenty Japanese Christians were martyred in 1597 (Keicho 1). The building, like St. Philip’s Church on Nishizaka, was designed by architect Kenji Imai. Exhibits are broadly divided into items “brought from overseas during the Christian era” and “historical materials created to pass down the history of that period.” You can see tangible objects connected to textbook history, such as a letter attributed to St. Francis Xavier (said to date to 1546), an autograph letter by Julian Nakaura—one of the four boys of the Tensho Embassy to Europe—along with a “Pieta” of the same type as the historic fumie (stepping-on images) designated as a prefectural cultural property, and the “Snow Santa Maria,” an object of devotion used by hidden Christians. Access: by public transportation, it is about a 5-minute walk from JR Nagasaki Station. By car, from the Nagasaki Dejima Road (Nagasaki IC), take National Route 324 for about 7 km (around 15 minutes).