Fukusai-ji Kannon

Nagasaki

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This temple takes the form of a huge turtle carrying an 18m-high figure of the goddess Kannon on its back. Inside, a Foucault pendulum (demonstrating the rotation of the earth on its axis) hangs from near the top of the hollow statue. Only St Petersburg and Paris have larger examples.

The original temple, Chinese in origin, was built in 1628 but was completely burnt by the atomic-bomb fire. The replacement was built in 1976. The temple bell tolls at 11.02 daily, the exact time of the bomb's explosion.

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