Things to do nearSaint Damien Statue

Father Damien de Veuster arrived in Hawaii in 1864 as a young Belgian missionary and eventually volunteered to serve the quarantined leprosy settlement at Kalaupapa on Molokai. He built homes, a church, and a sense of community there, and he contracted the disease himself, dying in 1889. The Catholic Church canonized him as a saint in 2009, and Hawaii claimed him as one of two statues it placed in the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall.

The bronze Saint Damien Statue outside the Hawaii State Capitol on South Beretania Street is a replica of that Washington figure. Sculptor Marisol Escobar rendered Damien in his later years, his posture bearing the weight of illness yet projecting calm resolve. The work is deliberately unflattering, and that honesty gives it a rare emotional force among public monuments.

The surrounding civic district rewards unhurried exploration. Just steps away, the Iolani Palace tells the story of the Hawaiian monarchy, while the Hawaii State Capitol itself is an architectural landmark worth examining up close. Together these sites form one of the most historically layered corners of Honolulu, and the Saint Damien Statue anchors it with a story of compassion that resonates well beyond Hawaii.