Old Helani Church on Kona, Hawaii

I found the above ruins while visiting Kona in Hawaii.  It was a church built in 1861 by the Rev. John D. Paris near Kahaluu-Keauhou on the island of Kona in Hawaii.  The church was built on the temple used by the natives as a place to worship their gods.  The previous site was Ohi'amukumuku Heiau.  Heiau, in Hawaiian, means temple or place of worship.  Amukumuku was a warrior that was dishonoured because of his practices in ceremonial battle; the word later came to mean deceitful.

The original temple was built prior to 1776 but was fully restored that year as the temple for the war god Kaili as the tribe prepared to go to battle with the natives of Maui.  It was not unusual for human sacrifices to be offered at these locations.

The church building and pastor brought Christianity to the region and building on the original site would irradicate any visible heritage left over from the old ways.  The building itself was made of lava rocks (basalt).  The mortar came from coral that was ground up, heated, and turned into lime.  Once water and sand was added, the mortar would set; the fact that the building's walls still exist today is a testament to that.

I produced the above image by taking several images in panorama-style and then stitching them together in Photoshop.  The above image is reduced in size, the original full-scale image is a printable 16x20.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com