Notre Dame Cathedral, Taiohae

Notre Dame Cathedral Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Taiohae (in French)
Notre Dame Cathedral, Taiohae
Coordinates: 8°54′37″S 140°6′11″W / 8.91028°S 140.10306°W / -8.91028; -140.10306
Location	Taiohae
Country	Marquesas Islands,  French Polynesia,  France
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Architecture
Status	Cathedral
Functional status	Active
Groundbreaking	1973 (1973)
Completed	1977 (1977)
Administration
Archdiocese	Roman Catholic Diocese of Taiohae o Tefenuaenata
Clergy
Archbishop	Guy André Dominique Marie Chevalier

Marquesas Islands,

 French Polynesia,

Notre Dame Cathedral (French: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Taiohae; Cathédrale Notre-Dame des Marquises) is a 20th-century church that serves as the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Taiohae o Tefenuaenata. It is located in the Meau Valley near the capital city on the island of Nuku Hiva.

The construction of the cathedral began in 1973 on the site of an earlier 19th-century church by the same name. The new cathedral opened in 1977. It is the largest church on the Marquesas Islands.

In the 19th century, France began expanding its colonial empire into Asia and the Pacific Islands, conquering Tahuata in 1842. Soon, the rest of the Marquesas Islands fell under French rule. Even though the colonial administrators chose to focus most of their resources on Tahiti—believing it was the more valuable of the two islands—Catholic missionaries, nevertheless, continued spreading the faith. Their persistence paid off and an apostolic vicariate was established on May 9, 1848. Construction of the cathedral most likely started after this time. It was built on land that was treated as sacred ground by the ancient Marquesans and was completed in the later part of the 19th century.