Seoul's Historic Walks

Description

Seoul Selection is pleased to announce the publication of Seoul's Historic Walks. In this handy guidebook based on the tours offered by the Seoul Foundation of Arts and Culture Architect and Korean traditional architecture expert Cho In-souk and magazine editor Robert Koehler share their appreciation of architecture and love for Seoul's history as they will take you through some of Seoul's lesser-known historic sites and give visitors a better understanding of Seoul's development from medieval walled city to modern metropolis. Seoul is a fascinating city where old and new often coexist in jarring contrast. The best way to explore it, however, is to stretch your legs and walk, and Seoul's Historic Walks will show you where to go.

Excerpt

Located just behind the Deoksugung Palace, the Jong-dong neighborhood was at one time the center of Korea's foreign community, a district of foreign legations and Christian churches. Even today, the area has a distinctively exotic feel, its quiet tree-lined alleyways home to a collection of handsome Western-style buildings, a legacy of Korea's first Western missionaries, diplomats and educators.
Still, it's hard not to walk through Jeong-dong without a heavy heart. It was in this neighborhood that the Joseon era's dramatic endgame was played out, an endgame that ended with the end of Korean independence and decades of brutal Japanese colonial rule. The Westerners may have brought modern education and medicine, but as symbolized by the tower of the old Russian legation they also brought imperial ambitions. More than any other area of Seoul, Jeong-dong speaks of a time when Korea was the object of intense competition amongst the great imperial powers of the West and Japan, when Korea's fate was decided not in the royal court, but in the smoky backrooms of foreign legations.

Cho In-souk

A master architect, president of Daaree Architect & Associates and a noted expert on Korean traditional architecture, Cho has been active not only in the preservation of Seoul's increasingly precious architectural heritage, but also sharing that heritage with Seoul's Korean and foreigner communities through the Seoul Foundation for Arts & Culture's "Culture is My Friend" program. Her work is characterized by the drive to integrate Korean traditional architectural principles into Korea's modern architecture. Cho also lectures on Korean Buddhist architecture for the International Dharma Instructors Association and sits on Seoul Metropolitan Government's Hanok Conservation Society and the Evaluation Committee of the Cultural Properties Administration.

Robert Koehler

A resident of Korea for over a decade, Koehler is the editor-in-chief of SEOUL, a monthly culture and travel magazine co-published by Seoul Selection and Seoul Metropolitan Government. He also co-led the Seoul Foundation for Arts & Culture's "Culture is My Friend" program in 2007.
When he isn't working on SEOUL, he's either blogging or traveling throughout Korea, taking photos of old buildings.

Table of Contents

The Heart of Old Seoul
Sungnyemun Gate to Gwanghwamun Gate

The Opening of Korea and Imperial Encroachment
Jeong-dong Area

Between Conservation and Development
Bukchon

19th Century Royal Residences
Changdeokgung Palace and Unhyeongung Palace

Around Mysterious Mt. Inwangsan
Beonsachang Armory and Mt. Inwangsan Area

The Move to Modernity
Tower Hotel to Dongdaemun

A Buddhist Community
Bongwon-sa

Bridge to the Contemporary
Seoul Station to Joongang Daily News Headquarters