Miyazu Catholic Church, 聖ヨハネ天主堂 カトリック宮津教会
There are no pews in the nave: the floor is made of mats, and you sit on the floor.
A wooden church from 1896, three-aisled, 208.09 m², partly on two storeys, with a roof of curved tiles, owned by the Catholic Diocese of Kyoto. It was designed by Father Louis Relave, of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, and built by Miyazu carpenters with keyaki wood, the Japanese elm of Tango. The 1927 Tango earthquake damaged it and the façade was rebuilt, but the main body held. Designated a national Important Cultural Property on 19 January 2024, under the registered name 宮津洗者聖若翰天主堂. It is the oldest surviving wooden Catholic church building outside Nagasaki, and one of the oldest in Japan where Mass is still celebrated.
Kyoto
Miyazu
