Seoul Yakhyeon Cathedral

About this place

Yakhyeon Cathedral is a small-scale Catholic church building. After freedom of religion was granted in 1886, as the number of Catholics grew, the church was established as a public prayer station (公所) under Myeongdong Cathedral. In 1891, Father Doucet, then the head priest of Myeongdong Cathedral, acquired a plot of land in Hapdong (蛤洞), and the vice-bishop Father Coste designed and supervised the construction, which was completed in 1892. The site where this cathedral stands was once an area where medicinal herbs were grown, known as 'Yakjeonyeon' (藥田峴, 'the hill of medicinal herb fields'), later shortened to 'Yakhyeon.' This is the hill area near Malli-dong, Seoul, going over to Seoul Station, hence the name Yakhyeon Cathedral. This cathedral stands out as the first Western-style church building constructed in Korea. While it partly shows Gothic elements, the overall style is Romanesque brick construction, characterized by heavy semi-circular arch roofs and narrow windows. As a relatively small church, the side windows have low eaves, so they are round arches rather than pointed arches; however, the main entrance and the side entrances projecting from the left and right each form pointed arches, giving it a Gothic appearance.