Jamsugyo Bridge, Gwiro, and Yeongcheon Market Selected as Seoul's 'Future Heritage of July'

Selected as July's Future Heritage through Citizen Voting

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City announced on the 2nd that the ‘Jamsugyo Bridge,’ which shows the water level changes of the Han River, the film ‘Gwiro’ set against Seoul Station, and Yeongcheon Market, a representative traditional market in Seodaemun-gu, have been selected as the Future Heritage for July.

‘Jamsugyo Bridge’ is the lower deck of a two-level bridge connecting Seobinggo-dong in Yongsan-gu and Banpo-dong in Seocho-gu, and it is the ninth bridge completed over the Han River. Built at a low height of 2.7 meters above the water level compared to other bridges, it symbolically shows the changes in the Han River’s water level and was designated as a Future Heritage in 2013.

The film ‘Gwiro’ is a feature film directed by Lee Man-hee, depicting the landscape around Seoul Station in the 1960s, and was selected as a Future Heritage in 2016. This film is praised as a masterwork of critical modernism for expressing the characters’ psychology through spatial composition and mise-en-sc?ne rather than dialogue or narrative development.

Yeongcheon Market, a traditional market that spontaneously formed in the 1960s, handles a variety of items such as groceries, agricultural and livestock products, and daily necessities. It was designated as a Future Heritage in 2013 due to its characteristic as Seoul’s representative rice cake wholesale market. Currently, the market is known more for various foods like tteokbokki and twisted doughnuts (kkwabaegi) than for rice cakes themselves.

Card news and interesting readings 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.

Meanwhile, ‘Seoul Future Heritage’ refers to modern and contemporary Seoul heritage with shared memories and emotions among many citizens. Since its inception in 2013, 489 Future Heritage sites have been designated. To foster public consensus on preserving Future Heritage, Seoul City is implementing various citizen-participation programs such as photo and sticker contests, Future Heritage exploration programs, and operating the Future Heritage Hall in Donuimun Museum Village.

Baek Woon-seok, Director of Seoul City’s Cultural Policy Division, said, “With the interest of many people, the Future Heritage for July was selected through over 5,000 votes,” and added, “We ask for active participation from citizens in upcoming Future Heritage projects such as one-day classes and contests.”

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