Former Supreme Court Building, Seoul

This building was constructed in 1928 as the Gyeongseong Court, served as the Supreme Court building after Korea's liberation, and is now used as the Seoul Museum of Art. Built by Japan during the Japanese colonial period as part of the infrastructure of its encroachment on Korea, the building retains a cornerstone inscribed with the words “定礎 昭和二年十一月 朝鮮總督子爵齋藤實 齋藤實” (“Cornerstone laid, November of the second year of Showa [1927], by Saito Makoto, Viscount and Governor-General of Joseon”), confirmed to be in the handwriting of Saito Makoto, the Governor-General at the time — bearing painful witness to the history of Japan's encroachment upon Korea. When the building was converted for use as the Seoul Museum of Art, everything except the front entrance was newly rebuilt. Only the front entrance, preserved in its original form, has been registered as a National Registered Cultural Heritage, a designation that well expresses the symbolic significance of the 'Former Supreme Court Building.'

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jung-gu, Seoul

Designation

Registered Cultural Heritage · 국가등록문화유산