Glover Garden, Open-air museum on Minami-Yamate hill, Japan
Glover Garden is an open-air museum on the slope of Minami-Yamate in Nagasaki, Japan, featuring several historic Western-style residences. The buildings spread across terraced grounds that offer a wide view over the harbor.
Thomas Glover arrived in Nagasaki in 1859, the year the port opened to foreign trade, and leased land at Minamiyamate in 1861. The residence was built in 1863 by the Japanese carpenter Hidenoshin Koyama of Amakusa, as an inscription found during repairs records. After Glover's death in 1911, his son Tomisaburo Kuraba inherited it; Mitsubishi Heavy Industries bought the house in 1939 and donated it to Nagasaki City in 1957. Other historic buildings from around the city were later moved onto the grounds.
The estate takes its name from Scottish merchant Thomas Glover and still displays Western residential buildings from the late Edo period. The houses stand open to visitors and show how foreign traders and their families lived in Nagasaki.
Moving walkways take visitors from the entrance up the terraces, making it easier for older guests and families with children. The site opens daily and lies within walking distance from the Ouratenshudo tram stop.
The Glover House is considered the oldest surviving Western-style wooden structure in Japan and belongs to the Meiji Industrial Revolution sites on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Part of the structure was built with techniques that Western carpenters brought to Japan in the mid-19th century.
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