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Myeong-dong Cathedral, Seoul, South Korea - Famous Churches
1096    Dibyendu Banerjee    03/01/2022

The Cathedral Church of Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception, informally known as Myeong-dong Cathedral is the first and most important Catholic Church in Korea and an important symbol of Christianity in the country. Located in the Myeongdong, in downtown Seoul, it is the national Cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul and the seat of the Archbishop of Seoul, the highest Roman Catholic prelate, a high-ranking member of the clergy of the nation. Dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception, the Principal Patroness of Korea in 1841, it serves as a community landmark, as well as a tourist attraction.

Although Korea maintained a policy of strict isolationism from the outside world throughout the Joseon dynasty, foreign ideas, including Christianity, began to enter Korea in the 18th centuryand by the late 18th century Korea had its first native Christians .After that, the first western Catholic missionaries began to enter Korea stealthilyin the mid-19th century. Despite the Korean court turned a blind eye to such incursions, the attitude changed abruptly when Catholicism started to gain ground as a belief in the 19th century through the work of French missionaries. The court saw it as a challenge to its authority and led waves of arrests and persecutions. However, the persecutions of the missionaries led to a French punitive expedition in 1866, undertaken by the Second French Empire in retaliation for the earlier Korean execution of seven French Catholic missionaries. But the encounter over Ganghwa Island that lasted nearly six weeks, resulted in the eventual French retreat, a check on French influence in the region and also the isolationism of Korea for another decade.

After the Joseon dynasty concluded a commercial treaty with the United States in 1882, the Apostolic Vicar of Korea sought land to build a mission. Despite Emperor Gojong of Korea, the 26th and the last king of the Joseon Dynasty, initially opposed the idea of constructing the cathedral, threatening to confiscate the land in 1887, eventually, he was convinced about the importance of having a Christian Cathedral and laid the cornerstone on 5 August 1892.It took around six years to complete the construction of the first Gothic style church in Korea, inaugurated on 29 May 1898 as the Jong-Hyun Cathedral, renamed Myeongdong Cathedral after the conclusion of World War II. Standing on a hill overlooking the city centre as a symbol of the martyrdoms and the sufferings of the early Catholic efforts in the country, it was the largest building in Korea at the time it was built.

Constructed with twenty types of locally fired red and grey bricks, the elegant building of the Myeongdong Cathedral is 75 feet (23 m) tall, while the steeple in the bell tower, containing a clock, rises 147 feet (45 m) high. While the floor plan of the church was designed around a Latin cross, the interior is decorated intricately with religious paintings and artworks, along with the beautiful stained glass windows depicting the Nativity of Jesus, Adoration of Magi, Jesus with the Twelve Apostles and the Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary. The high altar of the cathedral features a statue of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, flanked by the Twelve Apostles. Other than the main altar, there is also a side altar, dedicated to Saint Benedict of Nursia, a patron Saint of Europe. The crypt of the cathedral lies directly beneath the main altar and contains the relics of nine Korean Church martyrs, moved from the seminary in Yongsan-gu in 1900. Much later, a pipe organ was installed in the church in 1924, which was looted during the famine in consequence of the Korean War and destroyed.

During the fight for democracy in the 1970s and 1980s, the Roman Catholic clergy were among the leading critics of the military rule and the Myeongdong Cathedral was the centre of political and labour protest. Kim Dae-Jung, one of the most prominent Catholic political figures and the leader of many of the opposition movements, who later became the President of the country, held a mass rally at the cathedral in 1976, demanding the immediate resignation of President Park Chung Hee. Even, in 1987, around 600 student-led protesters staged a hunger strike inside the church, after the torture and death of university student Park Jong-Chol. As the outcome of the incidents, the Myeongdong Cathedral earned the nickname the Mecca of pro-democracy activists, as it also served as a sanctuary for the protesters, since the authorities were reluctant to arrest protesters

The Altar

Today, the Myeongdong Cathedral is regarded as the vanguard of a heritage of religious freedom in Korea. It is also declared as a Historic site by the Korean government on 22 November 1977, identifying it as a prime cultural property and asset of the country.

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Author Details
Dibyendu Banerjee
Ex student of Scottish Church College. Served a Nationalised Bank for nearly 35 years. Authored novels in Bengali. Translated into Bengali novels/short stories of Leo Tolstoy, Eric Maria Remarque, D.H.Lawrence, Harold Robbins, Guy de Maupassant, Somerset Maugham and others. Also compiled collections of short stories from Africa and Third World. Interested in literature, history, music, sports and international films.
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