GLOVER GARDEN
Glover Garden -
Nagasaki's top tourist attraction features Japan's oldest Western
style house.
Glover Garden (グラバー園, Glover-en) is a park in
Nagasaki,
Japan. In it stands the Glover Residence, the oldest Western
style house surviving in Japan and
Nagasaki's foremost tourist attraction.
It is located on the Minamiyamate hillside overlooking Nagasaki
harbor. It was built by Hidenoshin Koyama of Amakusa island and
completed in 1863. It has been designated as an Important Cultural
Asset. As the house and its surroundings are reminiscent of
Puccini's opera, it is also known as the "Madame Butterfly House."
Statues of Puccini and diva Miura Tamaki, famed for her role as
Cio-Cio-san, stand in the park near the house.
Thomas Blake Glover, born near Aberdeen, Scotland, came to
Nagasaki in 1859 at the age of 21. He
spent the rest of his life in Japan. He contributed to the
modernization of Japan in shipbuilding, coal mining and many other
fields. He was directly involved in the Meiji Restoration, and this
house was the venue of various secret meetings. British Ministers
and admirals would stay here as well as rebel samurai particularly
from the Chōshū and Satsuma domains.
The park also includes Ringer House (built 1865 for Frederick
Ringer) and Alt House (built for William Alt).
The park is open to the public and attracts nearly 2 million
visitors a year.
(Article
based on
Wikipedia article and used under the
GNU Free Documentation License) |
