Naiserelagi Mission Church

St Francis Xavier's church at Naiserelagi stands on a hill above the Kings Road, and behind its altar is a mural painted in 1962 by the French artist Jean Charlot: a Black Christ on the cross, flanked by Fijian and Indo-Fijian figures presenting tabua, mats and produce, with a chief and a village behind. It was a deliberate break from the European imagery the mission had used and it remains one of the more remarkable pieces of religious art in the Pacific.

What you actually see

• The Charlot mural - a 1962 fresco of a Black Christ with Fijian and Indo-Fijian figures.
• The offerings in the painting - tabua, mats and produce presented at the cross.
• The hilltop position - the church above the road with the coast beyond.
• The building - a simple mission church built to hold the work.

When to go

May to October is the driest. The church is usually open and needs no arrangement, though finding whoever holds the key is sometimes necessary. Mornings give the best light on the mural.

Honest expectations

It is a working church and a place of worship first. The mural is the whole visit and takes twenty minutes. The turning off the Kings Road is easy to miss and there is no signage of any size.

Nearby

Rakiraki is west along the coast, and Wailotua cave is southeast.