Romantic Jeongdong Blooms into Spring... Jung-gu to Host Jeongdong Night Walk (Jeongdong Yahaeng) in May

Junggu's Representative Historical and Cultural Festival 'Jeongdong Night Tour' Held May 24 (Fri)?25 (Sat) in Jeongdong Area Sharing Modern Culture, History, Style, and Romance with Citizens, Attracting 100,000 Visitors Last Year
Simultaneous Opening of 36 Modern Historical and Cultural Sites Including Deoksugung, British Embassy, National Jeongdong Theater
Starting with Deoksugung Palace Music Concert, Featuring Performances, Exhibitions, Special Lectures, Experiences, and Guided Tours

□ Who Are You Visiting, Jeongdong Spring Night Love

"What were the youth and dreams of the students from Paejae Hakdang and Ewha Hakdang like when they met on a spring day 120 years ago along the Deoksugung Stone Wall Road?"

Jung-gu, Seoul (District Mayor Kim Gil-sung) will hold the 'Jeongdong Night Walk (Jeongdong Yahaeng, 貞洞夜行)' over two days on May 24 and 25 around Deoksugung and the Jeongdong area.

While last year's Jeongdong Night Walk embraced the autumn atmosphere, this year’s theme is "Romantic Jeongdong, Blooming in Spring," sharing the romance of spring nights with visitors.

Jeongdong Night Walk is Jung-gu’s representative historical and cultural festival where modern cultural facilities located throughout Jeongdong open simultaneously to share the charm, romance, and history of modern culture with citizens. From 6 PM to 10 PM on May 24 and from 2 PM to 10 PM on May 25, the festival will feature △ Yahua (夜花, nighttime opening of historical and cultural facilities and cultural performances) △ Yasa (夜史, Jeongdong-gil experience programs) △ Yaseol (夜設, street performances) △ Yaro (夜路, historical guided tours) △ Yakyeong (夜景, night scenery) △ Yasik (夜食, food) △ Yasi (夜市, art market and workshops) along the Deoksugung Stone Wall Road in a colorful array.

□ Under the Moonlight, Your Beloved Is There... Opening of Jeongdong’s Modern Historical and Cultural Facilities

This year, 36 facilities including public institutions, cultural heritage sites, museums, exhibition halls, embassies, art galleries, religious facilities, and performance venues will participate in Jeongdong Night Walk, opening at night and offering performances, exhibitions, and special lectures to brighten Jeongdong’s spring nights under the moonlight. This is three more facilities than last year.

The festival opens with a royal palace music concert. On May 24 at 7 PM, the stage in front of Deoksugung Junghwajeon will feature Kim Junsu from the National Changgeuk Company and 'Club M,' a group of classical musicians, presenting a harmonious blend of traditional music and classical melodies. Following last year, about 1,000 spectators including Jung-gu residents, Seoul citizens, and foreign tourists are expected to attend the opening ceremony.

Since the first Jeongdong Night Walk in 2015, the embassy tours have been the festival’s 'bestseller.' This year, the Embassy of Canada and the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Korea will open to the public. The Canadian Embassy will be open for 40 minutes from 7 PM on May 24, and the British Embassy will be open for 30 minutes each at 3 PM, 4 PM, and 5 PM on May 25.

There will also be a history lecture for youth and families. From 6 PM to 7:30 PM on May 25, Shim Yong-hwan, director of the History N Education Research Institute, will give a lecture titled "The History Embraced by Jeongdong" at the Semahall in the basement level 1 of the Seoul Museum of Art.

The Ewha Museum and inside Ewha Girls' High School, where traces of the first private women’s educational institution Ewha Hakdang can be found, will be open for tours at 6 PM on both May 24 and 25.

Visits to the Embassy of Canada, Embassy of the United Kingdom, Shim Yong-hwan’s history lecture, and Ewha Museum tours require prior application on the Jeongdong Night Walk website (until May 9, 5 PM) and selection by lottery.

The "Let’s Walk Around Jeongdong Together" tour with cultural interpreters will operate every hour on the hour and every half hour during the festival, offering 20 Korean-language tours, 4 English tours, and 2 tours each in Japanese and Chinese. The tour walks from Paejae Hakdang History Museum to Seoul Museum of Art, Jeongdong First Methodist Church, Ewha Museum, Former Russian Legation, and Jungmyeongjeon, providing historical explanations. Participants can apply in advance on the Jeongdong Night Walk website or register on-site at the headquarters in Paejae Children’s Park.

At the National Territory Development Exhibition Hall, guided tours will be held every hour and half hour from 7 PM to 9 PM on May 24 and from 3 PM to 9 PM on May 25. Participation is available by on-site registration.

□ Melodies Bloom on the Streets of Modernity!

The atmosphere of modernity combined with music itself is 'romance.'

The pipe organ performances held at Jeongdong First Methodist Church and the Anglican Cathedral of Seoul are steady favorites of Jeongdong Night Walk, especially popular among foreign tourists. It is a great opportunity to compare the distinct sounds of pipe organs made in the United States and the United Kingdom.

At Jeongdong First Methodist Church, on May 24 at 6 PM and May 25 at 4:30 PM, performances titled "The Sound of Marching Drums" and "The Sound of Jeongdong" will be held, blending Korea’s first pipe organ with traditional Korean musical instruments for 60 minutes each.

At the Anglican Cathedral of Seoul, concerts will be held at 7:30 PM and 8:30 PM on May 24, and at 4 PM and 5 PM on May 25. After the performances, visitors can tour the interior of the cathedral, which combines Romanesque style with traditional Korean architectural elements.

The 'Synesthetic' concert, 'Jeongdong Dayang (Tea Fragrance),' which delights both smell and hearing, also awaits the audience. On May 24 at 7:30 PM, there will be a performance accompanied by coffee in the outdoor yard of Jeongdong Theater, and on May 25 at 2 PM, a performance to savor with tea.

In the front yard of Jungmyeongjeon, on May 25 at 4 PM, actor Lee Kwang-gi will host a Seodo Sori (traditional Korean folk singing) performance, and at 7 PM, the Gayageum performance group 'Nurungji' will present their rich melodies.

The 'Hwatong Concert,' which combines explanations of traditional Korean paintings with music, dance, video, and humanities, will continue to sell out. Son Cheol-ju will serve as the narrator, and singers, dancers, and rappers will break genre boundaries to maximize the beauty of Korean paintings. It will be held at Ewha Girls' High School Centennial Hall at 2 PM and 7 PM on May 25.

At Jeongdong Park, Ham Ji-eun’s K-pop 'Dance Party' will take place. At 3 PM and 5 PM on May 25, this lively stage crossing nationalities and generations will get everyone moving their shoulders.

□ A Picnic Along Deoksugung Stone Wall Road... Performances, Busking, Food Trucks

Along Deoksugung Stone Wall Road, you can become the protagonist of history and try various experiences. Programs include △ being appointed as Emperor’s Treasure Keeper △ coloring lost buildings (Ewha Hakdang, Sontak Hotel) △ healing at Sibyeongwon △ making eco-friendly AirPods pouches △ assembling a 3D puzzle of Deoksugung of the Korean Empire △ making LED hanji lanterns, and more, suitable for the whole family. Some programs require a fee.

Enjoy the message of light connecting past, present, and future. At Jeongdong Rotary, a gobo projector beautifully creates the royal emblem of the Korean Empire, the plum blossom. At Jeongdong Park, where the former Russian Legation stood, a light festival blooms with flowers. The cheongsachorong (traditional Korean lanterns) hanging along Jeongdong-gil illuminate our future.

The rhythmic beats of Ewha Girls' High School’s pungmul club students and the Korean Empire costume performances, as if just out of the drama 'Mr. Sunshine,' will enliven the march from Deoksugung Daehanmun to Jeongdong Rotary with excitement and style.

The busking held 12 times on the permanent stage along Deoksugung Stone Wall Road covers various genres. You can find 'healing' in these spontaneous street performances.

Food trucks and art workshops run by small business owners add simple pleasures to the festival. Especially this year, 16 cafes and restaurants in the Jeongdong area will offer a 10% discount during the festival. You can check the participating businesses on the Jeongdong Night Walk website.

□ The Original Night Walk Visited by 900,000 People

Started by Jung-gu, Seoul in 2015, Jeongdong Night Walk is Korea’s first cultural heritage night walk. Each year, more than 200,000 Seoul citizens and foreign tourists visit, and it has become a successful regional festival benchmarked nationwide. Until 2018, the event was held every May and October, then operated by Seoul City, and returned to Jung-gu’s management last October, sparking a wave of popularity.

Jeongdong Autumn Night (Lee Jae-bok)

Cozy Jeongdong Theater (Jang Hyun-jung)

Jeongdong Night Walk Girl’s Night Out (Bae Sang-gi)

Jeongdong-gil Nostalgic Church (Song Seung-wook)

Tour of the British Ambassador's Residence in Korea

□ The Back Alley of Love, in Jeongdong

Jeongdong-gil starts from Deoksugung Stone Wall Road and leads to Seoul Museum of Art, Jeongdong First Methodist Church, National Jeongdong Theater, Ewha Girls' High School, and the Kyunghyang Newspaper building. It is a unique place in the heart of Seoul where you can deeply feel the atmosphere of modernity and the vivid pain of a lost nation. Due to its exotic charm, it is also a romantic space where couples go on dates. It is well known that the 'snow-covered church' mentioned in singer Lee Moon-se’s song 'Gwanghwamun Sonata' is Jeongdong First Methodist Church.

The most notable love story in Jeongdong is embedded in the place name itself. In 1396, when Queen Sindeok, the second wife of King Taejo Yi Seong-gye, passed away, King Taejo built her tomb on Hwanghwabang Hill visible from Gyeongbokgung Palace and named it Jeongneung. Despite regulations at the time forbidding tombs within the city walls, Taejo established the tomb in the current Jeongdong area, reportedly because he truly loved Queen Sindeok. After Taejo’s death, Yi Bang-won relocated Jeongneung outside the city walls, and the tomb disappeared without a trace. However, the place name remained as 'Jeongdong.'

Jeongdong also preserves the twists and turns of modern history. The 'King Gojong’s Path,' where King Gojong fled from Deoksugung to the Russian Legation to avoid Japanese surveillance, has been restored, evoking the tragic history. King Gojong stayed at the Russian Legation for a year before proclaiming the Korean Empire and declaring the will for independence. Subsequently, Western powers’ legations gathered in Jeongdong. The American, British, and Russian legations arrived in succession, and other countries also established diplomatic missions in Jeongdong, which became known as the 'Legation Street.' This is why the U.S., U.K., and Canadian embassies still remain in Jeongdong today.

Behind the pipe organ in the Bethel Chapel of Jeongdong First Methodist Church is a small space called the blower room. It is said that during the March 1st Movement, activist Yu Gwan-sun and her schoolmates secretly copied the Korean flag and the Declaration of Independence here to avoid Japanese police.

Jeongdong, where modern culture blossomed and also faded in pain, now invites you to reflect on its history and enjoy the Jeongdong Night Walk festival. Experiencing history at various spots and taking on the 'Stamp Tour' challenge is also a rewarding activity. You can collect stamps at 21 cultural spaces in Jeongdong, including Seoul Museum of Art, the former Shin-A Ilbo annex, and Donuimun Museum Village. Collecting 10 or more stamps entitles you to receive souvenirs at the Former Russian Legation Jeongdong Park, Paejae Hakdang History Museum, and Salvation Army History Museum.

Finally, enjoy a romantic spring night on the last weekend of May by imagining the romance of modernity from the Jeongdong Observatory at Seoul City Hall Seosomun Building, where you can take in the history and atmosphere of Jeongdong at a glance.

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