Kailua Kona - Ahu'ena Heiau

This fully-restored temple, directly behind the Kamehameha Hotel, is possibly the best example of a Hawaiian place of sacrifice. Ahuena Heiau, in which human sacrifice also took place, was built by Kamehameha I on Kamakahonu Beach and dedicated to the god Lona.

Kamehameha I spent the last years of his life at Ahuena Heiau, possibly dying here - not too far from his birthplace, Kapaau. According to Hawaiian custom, his bones were removed from his corpse on a stone platform in the temple and taken north, possibly to Wawahiwa Point, where they were left at a secret location.

His son and successor, Kamehameha II, grew up here and this area became central to the abolition of the tabus and the destruction of heathen idols and