KEY POINTS:
Rangiatea Church was rebuilt after it burned to the ground in 1995, and yesterday it had some of its soul restored.
An arsonist destroyed the historic Kapiti Coast church, but its spirit was not destroyed.
Elders set about building a replica of the oldest surviving Anglican Maori Church, a building commissioned by Te Rauparaha and completed in 1851.
Prayer kneelers, orders of service, papers and a precious kiwi feather kete were among fire and water-damaged objects recovered from the ashes and preserved in freezers.
Last year, the National Library received the taonga and began preservation and restoration work. Yesterday they presented them back to the church, which was reopened in 2003.
"In a lot of respects the building Rangiatea is the phoenix arising from the ashes," church spokesman Te Hope Hakaraia said.
"But what does the phoenix do next? It's all very well coming back from the fire, but we believe that we now need to get people to come back to our church . . . we need to make our church more accessible to the wider public, because we're very grateful to the wider New Zealand public that contributed donations."
Conservator Louise Newdick said the kiwi feather-adorned kete had been the hardest item to resurrect. About three quarters of it had been burned, and a plastic bag it had been stored inside had melted onto the object.
"We're quite amazed that they have been able to save our treasures," Mr Hakaraia said.
An emotional Hira Royal, a retired minister, received the restored items on behalf of Rangiatea. She said the destruction of Rangiatea had felt like a death, but the restoration of the building had been wonderful.
"It's lovely to be able to come here today and to thank these people for taking care of those treasures for us. To be able to receive them back is quite moving as well."
