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Seoul City, heritage agency clash over 140-meter-tall building near Jongmyo Shrine
Jongmyo Shrine's main hall, Jeongjeon / Courtesy of Korea Heritage Service
By Park Ung
A plan by the Seoul Metropolitan Government to allow the construction of a 142-meter building opposite Jongmyo Shrine — the royal Confucian shrine where ancestral rites for Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) kings are still held — has drawn opposition from the Korea Heritage Service, which warned that the project could diminish the site’s historical value.
Built in 1395, Jongmyo enshrines the spirit tablets (tablets inscribed with the names of the deceased) of 49 Joseon kings and queens. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995 and is recognized as the oldest and most intact Confucian royal ancestral shrine, with its original spatial layout fully preserved.
The city government last week raised allowable building heights in Sewoon District 4, with Jongmyo Shrine to the north and Cheonggye Stream to the south. Under the new plan, limits will increase from 55 meters to 98.7 meters at the north end of the property and from 71.9 meters to 141.9 meters at the south end.
Located about 180 meters from the shrine's front gate, the district has been marked for redevelopment since 2004, but projects have stalled for more than two decades amid concerns over preserving the historical landscape and questions about development feasibility.
A redevelopment site in Sewoon District 4 in Jongno District, central Seoul, is seen in August 2022. Korea Times photo by Lee Han-ho
The height restriction was revised for the first time since 2018, prompting the Korea Heritage Service to immediately object.
“We express deep regret that Seoul revised and issued the redevelopment plan for Sewoon District 4 near Jongmyo Shrine without carrying out the review process recommended by UNESCO,” the agency said in a statement Monday.
The agency said the 71.9-meter limit had been set through consultations with the city, but Seoul unilaterally raised the cap, effectively more than doubling the height allowance. The agency warned that the change could damage the shrine’s outstanding universal value.
“Jongmyo is a site for solemn royal rites, and its tranquility is essential,” the agency said. “This is why, when the shrine was inscribed on the UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1995, UNESCO specified that no high-rise construction nearby should be approved if it would harm the site’s landscape.”
The agency said the U.N. cultural body advised assessing how the redevelopment would affect the heritage, and that it asked the city to keep the 71.9-meter limit until that review was completed and reflected in any changes.
However, it said the city government proceeded with the revised height notice without doing so.
“We will closely review the newly announced plan and discuss it with the Cultural Heritage Committee (within the agency) and UNESCO, and then consider any necessary domestic and international measures, while continuing dialogue with the city,” the agency said.
This is not the first time high-rise development near a cultural heritage site has sparked controversy in Korea.
In 2021, the government halted construction of high-rise apartments in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, being built near Jangneung, a Joseon-era royal tomb designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2009.
The halt was issued because the builders did not undergo the review required for structures over 20 meters tall within 500 meters of the tomb.
World Heritage sites can be placed on UNESCO’s World Heritage in Danger list — or even stripped of their status — if they are not properly managed amid development pressures.
Vienna’s historic center was added to the danger list in 2017 following concerns that rapid urban development was harming its cultural landscape.
Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City in the United Kingdom, listed in 2004, was placed on UNESCO’s World Heritage in Danger list in 2012 due to large-scale redevelopment and ultimately lost its World Heritage status nine years later.
Park Ung