Old Ganggyeong Holiness Church Chapel

About this place

The old Ganggyeong Holiness Church Chapel is located in Ganggyeong town in Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province. During the early missionary period, due to inculturation, Christian architecture was mostly in the hanok style. However, since most priests and pastors were Western, they felt the inconvenience of hanok buildings, and some congregation members who admired Western-style buildings gradually led to the construction of Western-style chapels. Through this process, most early hanok churches have disappeared, been rebuilt, or renovated, leaving very few originals. Against this backdrop, the old Ganggyeong Holiness Church Chapel, preserved in its hanok form, is of great rarity value. The interior structure shows the architectural methods of the hanok church during the process of Christian indigenization, maintaining the early church form with a cloth partition in the center to separate men and women. The brick plaster finishing on the interior walls and the exposed rafter ceiling demonstrate the structural beauty of simple wooden architecture. The wood processing techniques and joinery methods are important materials for understanding the technical changes during modernization from traditional methods. Recognized for these values, it was designated as a national registered cultural heritage in 2002.