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| image = Cath%C3%A9drale_Saint-Michel_de_Rikitea.2014.jpg | imagesize = 200px | imagelink = | imagealt = A yellow cathedral with a single spire | caption = A white washed St. Michael's Cathedral on Mangareva island | coordinates = | location = | country = French Polynesia | denomination = Roman Catholic | groundbreaking = 17 January 1839 | completed date = 1848 | consecrated date = | status = Cathedral | architect = | functional status = Active | style = Neo Gothic | parish = | archdiocese = Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Papeete | archbishop = }} St. Michael's Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Michel, Rikitea) is a Roman Catholic church located on Mangareva Island in the Gambier Islands of French Polynesia. It was built on the eastern side of Rikitea between 1839 and 1848 by missionaries of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. It is in the neo-Gothic architectural style, constructed with burnt limestone, and decorated with mother of pearl. ==History== The cathedral was built under the auspices of the Picpus Fathers by Father Honoré Laval after he arrived in Rikitea in 1834. His intent was to establish "a settlement of God", and a center of the Catholic Mission. It was, and remains, the largest church in the South Pacific. Laval imposed extremely strict Christian codes on the local people, conscripted them as slaves, and used them to build the cathedral and other structures in the Gambier Islands including a palace for the king, a monastery, a convent, a prison, a textile factory, coastal watchtowers, and a chapel on the site of every pagan temple. The cathedral is very active, within the limitations of the smallness of the surviving population of the island, and retains the religiosity of the 19th century; devotees congregate there on Sunday mornings and sing hymns. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「St. Michael's Cathedral, Rikitea」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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