Mauna ʻAla: Hawaii's Royal Mausoleum
Mauna ʻAla, the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaiʻi, rises quietly among the verdant slopes of Nuʻuanu Valley on Oʻahu, a place where stone, genealogy, and memory converge. The site became a sacred resting place for Hawaiʻi’s aliʻi, or chiefly families, after the remains of King Kamehameha II’s family were moved there in the 19th Century. In 1865, King Kamehameha V established the present mausoleum as a permanent burial place for the Kamehameha dynasty and other members of Hawaiʻi’s ruling families. Today, the grounds remain a powerful reminder of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the people who governed it before the islands became part of the United States.
At the heart of Mauna ʻAla stands a distinctive stone chapel completed in 1865, its architecture reflecting the Victorian Gothic style popular during the era. Pointed arches, steeply pitched roofs, and carefully worked stone give the building an appearance unlike the traditional Hawaiian structures that once occupied the islands. The mausoleum’s design also reflects Hawaiʻi’s changing connections with Europe and the United States during the 19th Century, when Christianity, Western architecture, and new political institutions were becoming intertwined with older Hawaiian traditions. Surrounding gardens and burial grounds create a more contemplative landscape, where royal names connect the present with generations of Hawaiian history.
The grounds hold the remains of monarchs from Hawaiʻi’s royal dynasties, including members of the Kamehameha and Kalākaua families. Among those commemorated are King Kamehameha III, King Kamehameha IV, King Kamehameha V, King Kalākaua, and Queen Liliʻuokalani’s relatives. Their tombs transform Mauna ʻAla from a monument into a landscape of genealogy. In Hawaiian culture, relationships between ancestors, descendants, land, and community carry profound meaning, and the mausoleum therefore represents more than a collection of graves. It is a physical expression of the continuing presence of Hawaiʻi’s aliʻi.
Mauna ʻAla also occupies a distinctive place in Hawaiʻi’s flag traditions. It is one of four locations in the islands where the Hawaiian flag is traditionally permitted to fly without the United States flag, a privilege reflecting the site’s connection to the Hawaiian Kingdom and its monarchy. The other locations traditionally associated with this practice include ʻIolani Palace, Thomas Square, and Puʻukoholā Heiau on the Big Island. The tradition, like Mauna ʻAla itself, keeps alive a visible thread between Hawaiʻi’s royal past and its present.
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