Doejae Cathedral Site

Doejae Cathedral, completed in 1895, was the second Catholic church built in Korea after Yakhyeon Cathedral in Seoul, the first to be built south of the Hangang River, and is presumed to be the first cathedral built in the traditional Korean hanok style. However, the cathedral building was completely burned down during the Korean War, and a gongso (a small parish chapel without a resident priest), rebuilt in 1954, now stands on the site. The cathedral adapted the Western basilica style of church architecture into Korean timber-frame construction, making it, it is presumed, the first hanok cathedral to demonstrate the process by which a new culture was indigenised. The original appearance of Doejae Cathedral, built in 1895, can be confirmed to some extent through the diary and photographic materials of Bishop Gustave Charles Marie Mutel, the eighth head of the Joseon Vicariate. The original cathedral was a single-storey building of Korean timber-frame construction with a tiled hip-and-gable roof; its plan was rectangular, with the altar and entrance placed along the longitudinal axis to give depth to the space leading toward the altar. Doejae Cathedral is significant as the second church building erected in Korea and, at the same time, as the first hanok cathedral.

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Where it is

Region

Wanju, Jeonbuk

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물