Jungnim-dong Cathedral, Chuncheon

This grey stone church sits on the Yaksa-ri hill in central Chuncheon. Begun in 1949, damaged in the Korean War and finished in 1956, it is a fine example of 1950s stone church building and is a Registered National Heritage. Behind it lies a small cemetery of priests who died after being marched north during the war, which stays with most visitors long after a short stop.

From a self-started faith to a cathedral

Catholicism in Chuncheon was started by local believers, not missionaries. The Gomsil mission station, led by Eom Ju-eon, who had taken up the faith after reading books such as The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, became a parish in 1920, the origin of today's cathedral. Parishioners are said to have bought land in town with money from weaving straw mats and sandals.

In the late 1930s Ireland's Missionary Society of St Columban took charge of the Chuncheon area, and the parish priest Fr Thomas Quinlan bought the present hilltop. A new church was planned in 1941 but delayed under Japanese surveillance; construction only began on 5 April 1949, a date still carved in Latin on the cornerstone.

War and the "Death March"

The walls were up and work had moved inside when war broke out in 1950. Air raids around the January 1951 retreat destroyed part of the walls and the rectory; work resumed in 1953 and the church was completed in 1956, built of stone carried from the riverbank at Balsan-ri in Hongcheon.

After North Korean troops took Chuncheon in July 1950, they marched Fr Quinlan and other priests and nuns north. Many died during 34 months of captivity. Quinlan survived, returned, and in 1955 became the first Vicar Apostolic of Chuncheon, making this church a cathedral.

What to see

• The stone exterior: a Gothic-style church with a central bell tower. Unlike the brick churches of Pungsuwon and Yongsomak in Gangwon from the same period, it is faced in stone. A keystone with a cross in relief crowns the main arch.
• Crosses on the bronze doors: Irish-style crosses recall the Columban missionaries.
• The interior: a single open hall without pillars. Altar furnishings were remade by Catholic artists during renovations in 1998 and 2006.
• Columban traces: for 30 years from 1939, eleven successive parish priests came from the Columban society. The society's convent stands near the entrance, and below the hill is St Columban Clinic, known locally as "the church hospital".
• The clergy cemetery: foreign and Korean priests who died during the war are buried behind the church. Beyond it stands a cross made from a pine burned in an east-coast forest fire, bound with yew wood from North Korea.

Tripto tips

• Time needed: 30 minutes to an hour covers the church, grounds and cemetery.
• Etiquette: this is a working church. Avoid walking around or taking photos inside during Mass.
• Getting there: 23 Yaksagogae-gil, Chuncheon. Chuncheon and Namchuncheon stations are both about 1.5 km away: around 5 minutes by taxi or 20 minutes on foot. Myeong-dong's dakgalbi alley and Jungang Market are close by for a walk through town.
• Good to know: the Diocese of Chuncheon has traditionally held a memorial here in the first week of November for the priests who died in the war, when the cemetery sees many visitors.