Danggogae Martyrs' Shrine

About this place

Danggogae Martyrs' Shrine sits on a small hill just a five-minute walk from the Yongsan Electronics Market. It is a holy site that produced nine saints and one blessed, and the place where ten male and female believers gloriously died as martyrs in 1839, near the end of the Gihae Persecution. They were originally to be executed at the crossroads outside Seosomun, but because the merchants outside Seosomun had to hold the Lunar New Year market, they requested that the execution ground be moved elsewhere; the site was therefore moved here to Danggogae, where the executions were carried out and the martyrs came to be honored. Danggogae Martyrs' Shrine was created around the theme 'the pain of the wild rose, the fragrance of the plum blossom,' expressing the suffering of persecution through the thorns of the wild rose and the grace of God through the fragrance of the plum blossom. The 14 Stations of the Cross at the Danggogae shrine are composed so that the Blessed Yi Seong-rye Maria follows the way of Jesus, allowing one to feel both the way of suffering and the glory of martyrdom together. Because of the poignant stories of martyrdom and the view that takes in all of downtown Seoul at a glance, a steady stream of pilgrims continues to visit Danggogae Martyrs' Shrine. The martyrdom holy sites of Saenamteo Church and Yongsan Family Park are nearby. It is located a 15-minute walk from Exit 5 of Hyochang Park Station on Seoul Metro Line 6.