Stroll through Seoul’s Catholic past at Seosomun Shrine History Museum

Visitors stroll around Seosomun History Park in central Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Lee Hae-rin

At the heart of Seoul’s bustling downtown, just a 10-minute walk from Seoul Station, is a small, serene park surrounded by skyscrapers — Seosomun History Park.

The 21,000-square-meter park is filled with spring blossoms this time of year.

However, down a sloping trail with curved red-brick walls, visitors can see beneath the blooms and enter Seosomun Shrine History Museum. It is a memorial space for lives lost to the 19th century Catholic persecutions of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).

Seosomun, meaning “small west gate,” refers to a gate between Sungnyemun and Donuimun, two of the four main gates of the city walls of Hanyang, the old name of Seoul.

The area used to be a passage where all the supplies brought into the city from the Han River were held, at the convergance of routes from outside the city. Joseon scholar and reformist thinker Jeong Yak-yong wrote in “Mokminsimseo” that Seosomun is “where grains are found in abundance, carts rattle and people bump into each other’s shoulders.”

Its bustling nature was why the gate was an official execution site during the Joseon period.

At the time, public executions and state-sanctioned torture were often carried out in front of large crowds to serve as a warning and prevent crimes. Seosomun, always busy, was therefore ideal for these grim displays, along with Danggogae and Saenamteo, then located just outside the city to the south, and Mount Jeoldu towards the west.

Portraits of Catholic martyrs are displayed at Seosomun Shrine History Museum in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Lee Hae-rin

Among those executed at Seosomun were not only prisoners and criminals, but also Catholic believers and reformers. They were perceived as a threat to Joseon’s social and political order, which was based on Confucian values that emphasized a highly stratified social order and loyalty to earthly authorities.

The government feared that the spread of Catholicism could potentially destabilize the established social order and began implementing policies to suppress the religion, including the persecution of its followers.

A replica of a well in the park offers a glimpse of the persecutions of the time. This deep well held water for the executioner to wash the blood off the sword he used for beheadings.

Old records show that at the time, the executioner would dramatically spray makgeolli on his blade and circle around a prisoner before execution. This was the cue for family and friends to throw money, begging the executioner to kill with a single blow and minimize pain.

Seen is a daily log of the martyrs of the 1866 Byeongin Persecution against Korean Catholics, displayed at the Seosomun Shrine History Museum, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Lee Hae-rin

In the century following the establishment of Catholicism in Korea in 1784, an unknown number were executed at the crossroads outside Seosomun. It remains Korea’s largest martyrdom site.

Despite its historical significance, the venue had been neglected in recent years. The Seoul Metropolitan Government built a neighborhood park atop an underground parking garage there in 1973, but the venue became isolated, with limited public access due to nearby train tracks. Over time, it became an encampment for homeless people.

Planning for the museum began in 2013, with the central government, city government, district office and the Archdiocese of Seoul allocating 70 billion won to renovate the park and pay tribute to the lives lost by building an underground museum. The museum opened in 2019.

Despite its religious background, the interior contains few overt Catholic elements or decorations such as stained glass and crosses. Instead, it is a sophisticated piece of architecture that invites not only Catholics but people from all faith traditions to engage in contemplation.

The design aimed to “convey universal sacredness that transcends all religions,” according to Yoon Seung-hyun of Interkerd Architects, one of the three architects who designed the museum.

Visitors look around the Consolation Hall at Seosomun Shrine History Museum in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Lee Hae-rin

The highlight of the museum is the Consolation Hall. The 930-square-meter space surrounded by red brick walls offers comfort and consolation to visitors. From a shaft in the ceiling, a ray of light penetrates into the hall, providing both sacredness and solemnity in honor of the five enshrined saints who died there.

Passing through the Consolation Hall, visitors arrive at Sky Square, a 33-meter-wide and 18-meter-high blank space surrounded by red bricks and open to the sky, where people can contemplate their relationship with the world.

Visitors look around Sky Square in Seosomun Shrine History Museum in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Lee Hae-rin

Today, the museum is a place of social and religious harmony, presenting exhibitions in solidarity with Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Last year, the museum featured Buddhist art, and works of artists with autism were presented last month in a special exhibition to celebrate International Autism Day.

“So many wrongful deaths were committed here. We know it was not just the Catholics. That is why we are presenting a variety of programs and exhibitions not specifically related to the Catholic Church,” said Father James Won Jong-hyeoun, the inaugural and incumbent director of the museum, referring to leaders of the Donghak Peasant Revolution (1894-5) who were also executed at the site.

In a corner of the museum's Saint Chong Ha-sang Chapel stands "Pieta," a wooden sculpture by Jang Jun-ho that conveys a universal message, Won explained.

"Pieta" by Jang Jun-ho is displayed at Saint Chong Ha-sang Chapel in Seosomun Shrine History Museum in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Lee Hae-rin

Carved from a ginkgo tree, the Virgin Mary is depicted wearing hanbok and holding her son’s head in her arms in homage to the face of Jesus by Michelangelo in the Pieta of Saint Peter’s Chapel in the Vatican.

“This shows that the pain of all mothers who have lost their children on this earth is no different from the pain of the Virgin Mary, who is holding Jesus in her arms,” he said. “I hope everyone coming for a visit here finds peace and happiness on this good spring day.”