Imsil-gun 'Cheondogyo Old Imsil Church' Designated as National Registered Cultural Heritage No. 799

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Nosik] On the 11th, Imsil-gun, Jeonbuk announced that the ‘Cheondogyo Old Imsil Church’ has been designated as National Registered Cultural Heritage No. 799 through the Cultural Heritage Administration Notice No. 2020-122.

The Cheondogyo Imsil Church was built in 1930, and the main building is a ‘ㄱ’-shaped hanok structure with symmetrical six rooms on both sides and a wooden veranda in front and back.

As a hanok religious building where living space and religious space coexist, the Imsil Church was modeled exactly after the inner chamber of Bonghwanggak (鳳凰閣) of the Uichang Monastery established by Son Byeonghui in 1912.

Son Byeonghui trained Cheondogyo leaders at Bonghwanggak to restore national sovereignty.

Among the Cheondogyo leaders in the Imsil area, 10 people including national representative Park Junseung, Cheondogyo Imsil Diocese heads Kim Youngwon and Han Youngtae, and Samhwa School founder Choi Seungwoo attended six 49-day intensive prayer meetings from 1912 to 1914, and later actively participated in the March 1st Independence Movement in Imsil in 1919.

The old Cheondogyo Imsil Church is a symbolic building of the Donghak Movement and Cheondogyo activities in the Imsil area, and it is the only early Cheondogyo religious building in the Jeonbuk region.

In particular, this place is well known as the location where the Korean Declaration of Independence, delivered from Seoul during the March 1st Movement in 1919 in the Imsil area, was received.

Under the command of Diocese head Han Youngtae at the time, the Declaration of Independence was distributed throughout the entire Imsil area, triggering the March 1st Movement.

Diocese head Kim Changsik said, “I ask the county to make efforts so that the Cheondogyo Imsil Church can regain its original appearance,” and “I hope that the Cheondogyo Imsil Church will be widely promoted as a cultural asset of Imsil-eup.”

The county plans to begin restoring the original form of the Cheondogyo Imsil Church starting next year, in connection with the national designated cultural heritage repair and maintenance project and the urban regeneration project underway in the Seonggari area of Imsil-eup.

Additionally, they plan to organize a tourist route within Imsil-eup connecting Imsil Hyanggyo, Imsil Catholic Church, Father Jihwan Jijeong’s Imsil Cheese Factory, Cheondogyo Imsil Church, and the heron habitat.

County Governor Shim Min said, “Since the Cheondogyo Imsil Church has been designated as a national designated cultural heritage, we will devote special efforts to its original restoration.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.