St. Mary’s Cathedral, Tokyo

The present cathedral was won in a 1960 competition, held after the earlier building was destroyed in the Second World War. The original had been a timber chapel built by French missionaries.

Its plan is a cross, recalling the symbol of the faith, with a structure of reinforced concrete, typical of a time when modern architecture was at its height in Europe and Japan. The outside is clad in metal, while the interior keeps a raw character, using daylight and shadow as its material.

The group includes the cathedral, a bell tower and service buildings. Unlike many churches, it has no square around it. It sits woven into an ordinary block of the city. Construction began in 1961 and was completed in 1964.