Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
original structure seated 300 Hawaiians on
lauhala
mats, woven from
hala
(screwpine)
leaves. The
cemetery
behind the church is almost like a who's who of Hawaii's colonial
history.
The 1842 New England Gothic-style church is made of 14,000 coral slabs, which
divers chiseled out of Oʻahu's underwater reefs - a weighty task that took four years. The
clock tower was donated by Kamehameha III, and the old clock, installed in 1850, still
keeps accurate time. The rear seats of the church, marked by
kahili
(feathered staffs) and
velvet padding, were reserved for royalty.
The
tomb of King Lunalilo
, the short-lived successor to Kamehameha V, stands near
the main entrance to the church grounds. In the graveyard early missionaries are buried
alongside other important figures of the day, including Sanford Dole, who became
Hawaiʻi's first territorial governor after Queen Liliʻuokalani was overthrown.
State Capitol
NOTABLE BUILDING
(
586-0178; 415 S Beretania St; 7:45am-4:30pm Mon-Fri)
Built in the architectur-
ally interesting 1960s, Hawaii's state capitol is not your standard gold dome. It's a
poster-child of conceptual postmodernism: the two cone-shaped legislative chambers
represent volcanoes; the supporting columns symbolize palm trees; and a large pool en-
circling the open-air rotunda represents the Pacific Ocean surrounding the Hawaiian Is-
lands.
On the east side of the capitol stands a highly stylized
statue of Father Damien
, the
19th-century Belgian priest who lived and worked among patients with Hansen's disease
(formerly called leprosy) who were forcibly exiled to the island of Molokaʻi, before dy-
ing of the disease himself. In 2009, Damien was canonized as Hawaii's first Catholic
saint.
Symbolically positioned between the palace and the state capitol is a bronze
statue of
Queen Liliʻuokalani
, Hawaii's last reigning monarch. Liliʻuokalani holds the constitu-
tion that she wrote in 1893 in a failed attempt to strengthen Hawaiian rule; ʻAloha ʻOe,'
a popular song she composed; and
Kumulipo
, the ancient Hawaiian chant of creation.
Aliʻiolani Hale
HISTORICAL BUILDING
(
www.jhchawaii.net
;
417 S King St; 8am-4pm Mon-Fri)
The first major government
building constructed by the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1874, today this dignified Italianate
structure houses the Hawaii Supreme Court. The ground-floor
King Kamehameha V
