Kawaiahaʻo Church

Infobox_nrhp | name =Kawaiahao Church and Mission Houses
nrhp_type =nhl


caption = Kawaiahaokinao Church is known as the Westminster Abbey of Hawaiokinai: site of royal coronations, christenings and funerals.
location= 957 Punchbowl Street and 553 S. King Street, Honolulu, Hawaii
lat_degrees = 21
lat_minutes = 18
lat_seconds = 17
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 157
long_minutes = 51
long_seconds = 33
long_direction = W
locmapin = Hawaii
area =8.8 acres
built =1838
architect= Bingham,Hiram
architecture= No Style Listed
designated= December 29, 1962cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=185&ResourceType=Building
title=Kawaiahao Church and Mission Houses |accessdate=2008-07-03|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service]
added = October 15, 1966cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]
governing_body = Private
refnum=66000294

Kawaiahaokinao Church (or Ka wai a Haokinao) is a historic Congregational church located in Downtown Honolulu on the Hawaiian Island of Ookinaahu. Kawaiahao Church and Mission Houses are a U.S. National Historic Landmark.

At one time the national church of the Hawaiian Kingdom and chapel of the royal family, the church is popularly known as Hawaiokinai's Westminster Abbey. The name comes from the Hawaiian noun phrase "Ka wai a Haokinao" (The water belonging to Haokinao), because its location was that of a spring and freshwater pool in the care of a woman chief named Haokinao. [W.D. Westervelt, [http://www.sacred-texts.com/pac/hloh/hloh06.htm "Hawaiian Legends of Old Honolulu"] , Boston: G.H. Ellis Press: 1915, p. 17]

Today, Kawaiahaokinao continues to use the Hawaiian language for parts of the service. It is one of the oldest standing Christian places of worship in Hawaiokinai, although four thatched churches stood at or near the present site before construction of the stone church. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places.

History

Kawaiahaokinao Church was commissioned by the regency of Kaokinaahumanu during the reigns of Kamehameha II and Kamehameha III. Designed by Rev. Hiram Bingham in the New England style of the Hawaiian missionaries, it was constructed between 1836 and 1842 of some 14,000 thousand-pound slabs of coral rock quarried from an offshore reef on the southern coast of Ookinaahu. Hawaiian divers with hand tools dived 3 to 6 metres below sea-level to chisel out each coral block, which had then to be transported from the reef and onto shore. [ [http://www.kawaiahao.org/history.shtml#history About Kawaiahaokinao Church - History] ]

It rivaled the concurrent construction of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace for the Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands. Construction began on that church in 1840 and was substantially completed in 1843, one year after the completion of Kawaiahaokinao Church.

It was at Kawaiahaokinao Church in 1843 that Kamehameha III uttered the phrase that would become Hawaii’s official motto: "Ua mau ke ea o ka okinaāina i ka pono" ("The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness"). The name Kawaiahaokinao was not applied to the site until 1853.

, is buried in the courtyard.

However, Kawaiahaokinao Church was not the only site of royal worship in the Islands. Kamehameha IV and his wife Emma were devout members of the Church of England and established the Anglican Church of Hawaiokinai—the present-day Episcopal Diocese of Hawaiokinai. They commissioned the construction of the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew, which replaced Kawaiahaokinao Church as the principal centre of royal worship. Kamehameha V, Kalākaua and Liliokinauokalani (after the Overthrow) preferred to utilize the cathedral. Before the Overthrow, Queen Liliokinauokalani had been choir director at Kawaiahaokinao Church.

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1962.citation|title=PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/66000294.pdf National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Kawaiahao Church and Mission Houses] |32 KB|date=August, 1978 |author=Benjamin Levy |publisher=National Park Service and PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/66000294.pdf "Accompanying eight photos, exterior and interior, from 1962"] |32 KB]

References

External links

* [http://kawaiahao.org/ Official site]