Gwangtonggwan, Bank building in Jung District, Seoul, South Korea.
Gwangtonggwan is a brick and granite structure featuring circular windows, arched openings, and decorated columns running across its exterior walls. The building combines Western architectural methods with restrained design details that maintain visual balance.
The structure was built in 1909 as the headquarters of Daehan Cheon-il Bank with backing from Emperor Gojong. It was restored after a fire in 1915 and has operated continuously as a financial institution ever since.
The building displays traditional Korean characters written right to left on its entablature, showing how banking and language customs existed together during this period. Visitors can see how the structure bridges two different ways of thinking about progress and tradition.
The building sits near Namdaemunno in a walkable area surrounded by other historical sites that invite casual exploration. The exterior can be viewed easily, and occasionally visitors can see the interior from the main entrance area.
This is Korea's oldest bank building still operating today, standing as a symbol of how the nation rebuilt itself after early-twentieth-century changes. Its unbroken use for banking shows how a single structure can span more than one hundred years of the country's financial story.
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