The most beautiful religious buildings New Caledonia

The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Vao, built in 1860, is a colorful building very representative of the Caledonian island style. Inside, the beautiful ceiling and the multicolored stained glass windows should be noted. The tabernacle and the pulpits are made of carved wood. Behind the building, take the path that leads to a small chapel located a little higher up, where a statue of the Virgin is leaning over the world. The Grande Chefferie is also nearby. Inaugurated in 2006, it is in fact a building from the 1850s that has been restored.

It was a convict who drew the plans for this cathedral, built in 1888 on the heights. If you look up at the façade, you will see a two-meter statue of Notre-Dame-des-Flots, donated by the sailors of the Caledonian Merchant Navy. The two 25-meter towers are equipped with two-meter diameter clocks and were not yet completed at the time of its consecration in June 1894. Once inside, it is necessary to examine the large fonts inserted in the narthex. Don't miss the nickel leaf chandelier on the ceiling.

Don't hesitate to push open the heavy doors of the large church of St. Joseph to admire the interior. Dating from 1912, it has a beautiful vaulted wooden ceiling, a kohu pulpit and a black kaori carved Christ draped with a manou. On the edge of the pretty bay of the same name stands the monument to the centenary of the Catholic mission that arrived in 1857. The chieftaincy is next door. A visit certainly attractive for the believers, but one admires just as much the architecture of this small church so atypical. Sale of artisanal products on the spot.

Classified as a historical monument, this beautiful chapel dates from 1898. The sunsets on the bay of Santal are magnificent and the procession of Our Lady of Lourdes takes place there every year on December 8. It was in Easo that the whalers butchered their catch between 1860 and 1870 and burned the fat to extract the oil.In front of the building, a large banyan tree plunges its roots into the heart of a cave. Ask politely for permission to enter.

The mission, initially installed on the seashore, was transferred here and named Saint-Louis in honor of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. To the left of the church, a small path leads to a bridge over the Ti. If you go by car, take the road on the right. Just after the bridge, at the crow's feet, follow the right track. After a small hill and once at the fork, continue on the left track passing under a high voltage line. The place is very quiet and solemn, with a beautiful view of the plain and the lagoon.

Dominated by its square bell tower, the Church of the Conception was built in 1874 on the site where a Marist mission was established. The religious worked on a coffee plantation. Every year in August, a pilgrimage is organized on foot from Noumea. The 2.80 m high statue of the Virgin Mary is a copy of Notre-Dame-de-Fourvière in Lyon. The stained glass windows in the choir recount the events that took place in Balade. In 1843, the ship Bucéphale landed missionaries who survived as best they could.

8 km after the beginning of the river, after passing the tribe of Poindjap, you will discover two burned and rusted trucks that recall the attack and assassination of ten Kanak militants on December 5, 1984. On the stele is inscribed: "Son of Kanaky, remember...". Two of Tjibaou's brothers fell in the ambush and seven people escaped. On this place of pilgrimage and recollection for the Kanaks and the independentists, the carcasses of Peugeot 404 are regularly covered with banners, pieces of cloth and flowers.