Seinan Gakuin University Museum

Fukuoka, Japan, Japan

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Seinan Gakuin University Museum is a small, historically significant museum located on the Seinan Gakuin University campus in Nishijin, Sawara Ward, Fukuoka, opened to the public on May 15, 2006.

The museum is housed in the university’s former main building, a red-brick structure completed in 1921 and designed by the American architect William Merrell Vories; it is designated as a Tangible Cultural Property of Fukuoka and was awarded Fukuoka City’s Urban Landscape Award in 2000.

The museum’s collections focus on Christian culture and its roots in Judaism, featuring notable items such as manuscript-era Bibles, a Gutenberg Bible, materials from Japan’s forbidden-Christian period (including Fumes pictures and “created Kirishitan” images), a replica of the Rosetta Stone, and rare objects like a menorah and a mysterious “magic mirror” device that reflects light to form a cross.

The facility serves educational purposes with Christian culture, hosts two special or temporary exhibitions annually plus public lectures, academic conferences, concerts, and regular “Children Workshops,” and the university grounds include an outdoor garden planted with plants mentioned in the Bible with explanatory signs.