Cheokgok Church, Bonghwa

This church was built by Kim Jong-suk (1872–1956), who had served as an official of the Takjibu (the Ministry of Finance) in the late Korean Empire period. The chapel was originally a square building, three kan (a traditional unit of bay spacing) wide on its front and three kan deep, but in 1990 a porch was added at the front and the building was extended in red brick. The interior pulpit and arched wooden decoration are well preserved in their original form. Myeongdong Seosuk, a private academy built together with the chapel, was a building where believers were educated not only in religion but also in Korean language, mathematics and classical Chinese. This church is valuable in that it was established through the pioneering will of its congregation, rather than by missionaries or an organisation.

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Where it is

Region

Bonghwa, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Registered Cultural Heritage · 국가등록문화유산