Suwon 'Haenggung-dong~Buksu-dong Cathedral~Hwaseong Haenggung' Trail Opens March 1

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The trail connecting Wangui Golmok in Haenggung-dong, Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Buksudong Catholic Church, and Hwaseong Haenggung will be open to the public starting March 1.

On the 28th, Suwon City announced that it recently completed the "Buksudong Wangui Golmok Special Project," which creates a public passage connecting Suwoncheon Stream, Wangui Golmok, Buksudong Catholic Church, and Hwaseong Haenggung.

The Buksudong Wangui Golmok Special Project is a trail construction project that starts from Suwoncheon near Janganmun and Hwahangmun, follows Wangui Golmok, passes Buksudong Catholic Church, and leads to Hwaseong Haenggung.

Construction began in November last year, and the public passage and parking lot construction were completed by the end of January this year. The project cost 400 million KRW.

For this project, the city demolished the wall behind Buksudong Catholic Church and created a public passage. With the creation of this passage, Wangui Golmok and Jeongjo-ro are now directly connected. Tourists and citizens can walk along Wangui Golmok, visit Buksudong Catholic Church and Suwon Holy Ground, exit through the church’s main gate, and proceed to Hwaseong Haenggung.

The "Polly Hwarang" inside Buksudong Catholic Church (the former Sohwa Elementary School building) is also open for viewing. The old wooden Sohwa Elementary School building was destroyed during the Korean War and rebuilt as the current stone building in 1954. After the school relocated, the first-floor classroom was remodeled and opened in October 2007. Various torture devices used during the persecution of Catholics and relics of Father Polly (Paris Foreign Missions Society), the 4th parish priest of Buksudong Parish, are exhibited there.

Previously, to go from Wangui Golmok to Hwaseong Haenggung, one had to take a detour of over 500 meters, but with the new public passage through Buksudong Catholic Church, visitors can go directly. Buksudong Parish offers free parking from Monday to Saturday for visitors to Wangui Golmok and Polly Hwarang.

Earlier, on December 29 last year, Suwon City signed a business agreement with the Catholic Diocese of Suwon for the "Haenggung-dong Urban Regeneration Project Buksudong Wangui Golmok Special Project."

According to the agreement, the Suwon Diocese approved the use of the site so that Suwon City could carry out repairs on the old wall of Buksudong Catholic Church, create the public passage, and improve the parking lot. Going forward, the parking lot and restrooms will be open to citizens, and the facilities will be managed and operated accordingly.

Yoo Moon-jong, Suwon City’s 2nd Deputy Mayor, expressed expectations, saying, "After the trail opens, the number of tourists visiting the eastern part of Haenggung-dong, including Hwaseong Haenggung, Buksudong Catholic Church, Haenggung-dong Eoullim Center, Mural Alley, Haenggungdongyi Village Brewery, and Hwahangmun, is expected to increase. The eastern part of Haenggung-dong, which had been relatively declining compared to Haengnidan-gil, will be revitalized."

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