Kawaiahao Church, Honolulu

Kawaiahaʻo Church, often referred to as Hawaii’s equivalent of Westminster Abbey, served as the national church of the Kingdom of Hawaii and as the private chapel of the Hawaiian royal family. Although it is not the original structure, it is Hawaii’s oldest existing Christian place of worship. The present Kawaiahaʻo Church was built on the site where four smaller thatched churches once stood, using carefully quarried coral rock.

The name “Kawaiahaʻo” comes from a Hawaiian phrase meaning “the water of Haʻo,” referring to the site’s origins as a spring and small freshwater pool associated with High Chiefess Haʻo.

Kawaiahaʻo Church was commissioned during the reigns of Kings Kamehameha II and Kamehameha III. It was designed by Reverend Hiram Bingham, who intended it to reflect the architectural style of New England missionaries. Construction involved the laborious task of quarrying coral rock by hand. It was within the walls of Kawaiahaʻo Church that King Kamehameha III famously declared, “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness,” a phrase that eventually became the official motto of Hawaii.