Wondong Catholic Cathedral, Wonju

This building is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wonju. It was the site of the 'Wonju Declaration' by Bishop Ji Hak-sun, a figure who made his mark on the democratisation movement during the Yushin regime, and it thereby also became a symbol of the pro-democracy movement in the Wonju region. The building has a rectangular plan that is very long in proportion to its width, and the upper part of the bell tower at the centre of the façade is dome-shaped. The exterior walls are finished with a washed artificial-stone surface and lined with joints to resemble stonework, giving the exterior a high degree of finish; the original form from the time of construction remains well preserved. Rebuilt in 1954, it is a rare example, among cathedrals reconstructed after the war, of a building with a high degree of formal completeness and well-preserved original form; it is also connected to the democratisation movement of the 1970s. The cathedral was first built on 17 August 1896, when Father Le Merre arrived as its first parish priest, but it was destroyed during the Korean War in the 1950s. At the end of 1953 a Chinese national surnamed Ga drew up the basic design and construction plan, and in 1954 the building was erected through the seongmi campaign — in which parishioners donated a handful of rice at each meal to support the church — and the voluntary labour of the congregation. On 20 May 1976 a convent was added on the first floor and a hall on the second; on 29 June 1985 a church building of 273 ㎡ and a catechism room were constructed, of brick construction finished with galvanised sheet metal, cement, brick and concrete slab; and on 15 May 1991 a five-storey building was added on the same lot.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Wonju, Gangwon

Designation

Registered Cultural Heritage · 국가등록문화유산