Pfütsero

Mary Help of Christians Cathedral, Kohima

Look at the facade first: it is built to resemble a Naga house, and the cathedral sits into its hill rather than on top of it, so it reads as part of Kohima rather than an import. There is a carved wooden crucifix sixteen feet high, one of Asia's largest crosses. The three-crore cost was met mostly by Japanese donors who wanted a memorial to the soldiers who died in the Battle of Kohima; the inscriptions outside say so plainly, and the cathedral later hosted reconciliation meetings between Japanese and British veterans. Construction began in 1986 and the church was consecrated in January 1991. Read the inscriptions.