Yakhyeon Catholic Church, Catholic church in Jungnim-dong, Seoul, South Korea
Yakhyeon Catholic Church is a place of worship with Gothic architectural features and a cross-shaped layout in Seoul. The structure has arched windows set into its walls and spans roughly 12 meters wide by 32 meters long.
The congregation began in 1891 in a hanok called Banseokbang, on the site of Yi Seunghun's home; he was executed in the 1801 persecution. After the 1886 treaty granted religious freedom, French missionary Eugène Coste designed the new church, built 1891–1892 by a Chinese craftsman and supervised by Fr. Doucet. It was Korea's first modern Western-style building.
The church is officially named the Church of St. Joseph and is reportedly the most popular site for Catholic weddings in Seoul. Its doors are reportedly never locked, as it is meant to serve as a public sanctuary. Pope Francis visited in 2014, and on Christmas Eve 2022 President Yoon Suk Yeol, a baptized Catholic, attended Mass here.
The church is easy to reach and sits near Chungjeongno Station on subway lines 2 and 5. It stays open during the day except when religious services are happening inside.
The hill name Yakhyeon (藥峴) means "medicinal hill"; the church's Hanja name 藥峴聖堂 comes from this hill outside Seodaemun, not from a person. The congregation began in 1891 in a hanok called Banseokbang before the 1892 brick church was built.
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