Seoul City Selects Seoul Arts Center, Jangchung Gymnasium, and Manbal-ui Cheongchun as 'February Future Heritage'

Designating 'Yesul-ui Jeondang' and 'Jangchung Gymnasium', Representative Cultural and Sports Facilities, as Future Heritage of February

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City announced on the 1st that it has selected the comprehensive arts facility ‘Yesul-ui Jeondang’ (Seoul Arts Center), the indoor professional sports facility ‘Jangchung Gymnasium’, and the pioneering Korean youth film ‘Manbal-ui Cheongchun’ (Barefoot Youth) as the February Future Heritage.

Seoul City selects a Future Heritage of the Month every month, choosing future heritage sites with interesting stories related to that month. The February Future Heritage includes ‘Yesul-ui Jeondang’, completed on February 15, 1993, ‘Jangchung Gymnasium’, opened on February 1, 1963, and the film ‘Manbal-ui Cheongchun’, released on February 29, 1964.

‘Yesul-ui Jeondang’, finally completed with the opening of the Opera House in February 1993, is the largest comprehensive arts facility in Korea, built to expand opportunities for the public to enjoy culture. Since its opening, it has hosted about 1,700 performances and exhibitions annually across various genres, attracting more than 2 million visitors each year, making it a representative cultural and artistic hub and a designated Future Heritage.

‘Jangchung Gymnasium’ is Korea’s first dome indoor gymnasium, opened in February 1963, and continues to serve as the center of Seoul’s sports culture, making it a Future Heritage. It has a long history of hosting various sports competitions and cultural events, from international events such as the 1986 Seoul Asian Games and the 1988 Seoul Olympics to domestic events like traditional Korean wrestling and basketball tournaments.

‘Manbal-ui Cheongchun’, a symbol of youth films released in February 1964, was the top-grossing film of its time, attracting approximately 210,000 viewers. The film vividly portrays the socio-economic conditions faced by the younger generation and the culture shared by youth at the time, and it was selected as a Future Heritage for its depiction of 1960s Seoul.

Card news and interesting reading materials related to this month’s Future Heritage can be found on the ‘Future Heritage of the Month’ board on the Seoul Future Heritage website, as well as on Seoul Future Heritage’s Instagram and Facebook pages.

From the 1st to the 12th, Seoul Future Heritage’s SNS will hold an event where participants who leave comments sharing their experiences related to February’s Future Heritage will be entered into a draw to win chicken coupons for 50 people.

Meanwhile, ‘Seoul Future Heritage’ refers to modern and contemporary Seoul heritage with shared memories and emotions among many citizens. Since its inception in 2013, 488 Future Heritage sites have been designated. Seoul City is implementing various citizen-participation programs to build public consensus on preserving Future Heritage, including contests, Future Heritage Grand Tours, and operating the Future Heritage Hall within Donuimun Museum Village.

Baek Woon-seok, Director of Seoul City’s Cultural Policy Division, said, “The February Future Heritage selections represent key fields such as culture and arts with ‘Yesul-ui Jeondang’ and sports culture with ‘Jangchung Gymnasium.’ We hope that the monthly introduction of the ‘Future Heritage of the Month’ will provide an opportunity for people to take an interest in the Future Heritage around us.”

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