Explore the origins of Seoul’s most iconic religious structure in Volume 93 of Transactions, published this year by the Royal Asiatic Society (Korea Branch) for the year 2018. In this very brief essay, I decided to discuss a few old reports offering clues as to why Myeongdong Cathedral looked the way it did, and how it was designed. In short, it may have been connected to the architecture of a certain chapel in Hong Kong. I am grateful to Hong Kong Memory for allowing the reproduction of one of their images in this essay.
Click the link below to view or download a PDF version of this essay.
“The Architectural Roots of Myeongdong Cathedral”
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If possible, I’d encourage you to write directly to the RASKB and order a hardcopy of the latest volume of Transactions. Not only does it help support the organization, but journal articles cover a wide variety of interesting topics — written by a wide variety of interesting authors. The content for Volume 93 is as follows:
Brother Anthony: The Diamond Mountains: Lost Paradise 93:1-18
Encouragement from Dongducheon 93: 19-30
Moe Taylor: North Korean Fragments of Post-Socialist Guyana 93: 31-42
Mark Peterson: The Gyehu Deungnok 93: 43-52
Robert J. Fouser: “Literature Play” in a New World 93: 53-66
Nate Kornegay: The Architectural Roots of Myeongdong Cathedral 93: 67-72
Moira Saltzman: Jejueo, Korea’s Endangered Language 93: 73-84
Robert D. Neff: The Jeju Fish Wars 93: 85-96
Jon Dunbar: Exploring Manchocheon, Seoul’s Underground River 93: 97-136
Fred Jeremy Seligson: Coveting the Dragon’s Pearl 93: 137-148
Matt VanVolkenburg: Grit and Enterprise 93: 149-168
Annual RASKB Reports 93: 169
Colonial Korea 
Thanks a lot! I did some research on similar issues in Japan and enjoy having my horizon extended thus.
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Great, thanks! What were you researching in Japan, if I may ask? Love to see what similar issue you worked on
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