Yakhyeon Cathedral (藥峴聖堂/약현성당) - the first catholic church in Korea

The name of the church, Yakhyeon, is probably the pronunciation of the Korean "약현" or 藥峴.  "성당" means church or cathedral in Korean.  It is located in the administrative district called Jungnim-dong (中林洞 ; 중림동).  Jungnim-dong is a dong in the neighbourhood of Jung-gu in Seoul.  The church was named after "Yakjeonhyeon" (藥田峴,) meaning the original location being a hilly area covered with medicinal herbs. It was shortened to "Yakhyeon" and referred to the area between Malli-dong and Seoul Station.

Yakhyeon Cathedral (藥峴聖堂)

Yakhyeon Cathedral is an important place for Catholic pilgrimage in Korea for two reasons.

First, it is the first catholic church built in Korea.  It was originally a school set up by the then Bishop Blanc and the Paris Foreign Missions Society in 1887 for teaching christianity in Korea.  With the expanding number of Catholics, the then Bishop Mutel decided a church was to be built and the foundation stone was laid in October 1891.  The construction was completed in September 1892 and consecration carried out in April 1893. There was a fire in February 1998 that brought the church into ashes. It was then refurbished and reopened to the public on 17 September in 2009.

Its opening was an important historical landmark in Korea as the freedom for the public to become Catholics was in 1886 when a treaty was signed between France and the then Joseon Dynasty of Korea.  Before that there was ongoing oppression and persecution against catholics since in 1784, when Yi Sunghun (李承薰;이승훈; 1756 - 1801) was baptized in China and marked the official beginning of the Catholicism in Korea.

As some of the beliefs and practices advocated by the Church were not acceptable to the then governing Joseon Dynasty, such as ancestral worship, there were ongoing persecutions in the 100 years in between.  Three most important ones were: Sinyu Persecution  (辛酉迫害) in 1801, Gihae Persecution (己亥迫害in 1839 and Byeongin Persecution (丙寅迫害) in 1866.  These persecutions resulted in more than 8000 deaths in the Korean Catholic history.

On 6 May 1984, the Pope John Paul II canonized 103 previously beatified Korean martyrs (79 beatified in 1925 and 24 more in 1968) in Yeouido (汝矣島/여의도), Seoul, South Korea. Their feast day is 20 September. Korea now has the fourth largest number of saints in the Catholic world.

Seosomun Memorial (西小門殉教者紀念堂）

This history of martyrdom is related to the second reason of the significance of the Yakhyeon Cathedral.  Across the Cathedral, there is the Seosomun Park (西小門公園서소문 공원seosomun gong-won).  The crossroads outside Seosomun was one of the official execution ground in the Joseon Dynasty.  Among the 103 saints, 44 were executed in this place.  There is a memorial in the Park, the Seosomun Martyrs Memorial Center (西小門殉教者紀念堂서소문순교성지）built to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the church.

Pope Francis visited the Yakhyeon Cathedral and Seosomun on 16 August 2014 during his visit to Korea for the 6th Asia Youth Day.

Reference:
Visit Seoul: Yakhyeon Church
(http://www.visitseoul.net/en/article/article.do?_method=view&m=0004003002027&p=03&art_id=359&lang=en;
http://www.visitseoul.net/cb/article/article.do?_method=view&m=0004003002002&p=03&art_id=359&lang=cb)

History 100.  Pope canonises 103 Korean Martyrs.   http://www.historychannel.com.au/classroom/day-in-history/589/pope-canonizes-103-korean-martyrs