▲This photo shows Jeondong Catholic Church. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

 

SEOUL, July 30 (Yonhap) -- Jeondong Catholic Church (Historic Site No. 288), which is the first Western-style building in the Honam region and one of the main tourist attractions of Jeonju Hanok Village, reopened on Friday after two years of repair work.

Jeondong Cathedral has been under repair work since June 2020, with the exterior walls being damaged, the bell tower and the left and right spires corroded, and water leaking after 130 years of construction.

Jeonju spent 1 billion won to replace 4,000 damaged old bricks out of 140,000 on the exterior wall of the cathedral and to repair joints and windows.

The surface of the building was also thoroughly cleaned to improve its appearance.

Due to the installation of screens and construction, it was impossible to see the full view of the cathedral.

Jeondong Catholic Church is the first building in the Honam region that combined Romanesque and Byzantine styles.

It has been loved by tourists and citizens of Hanok Village as it is grande and has the most beautiful curves among church buildings in Korea.

It is said that some of the bricks of the cathedral were made by baking the soil, which were from the demolition of the township in Jeonju during the Japanese colonial period, and stones from the fortress wall near Pungnammun were used as the foundation stone.

An official from the City’s Culture, Tourism and Sports Bureau said, “We can show the beautiful appearance of Jeondong Cathedral to tourists and citizens visiting the Hanok Village again,” adding, “We will strengthen the management of major cultural assets.”

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Jiwon Woo.)

[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]