북동 공동주교좌 성당

About this place

Bukdong Co-Cathedral is a parish and co-cathedral of the Archdiocese of Gwangju in Bukdong, Buk-gu, Gwangju, within the Gwangju North 2 district. According to the archdiocese's official history, it began in 1929 as a mission station with ten Catholics and was elevated in 1933 as the first parish in Gwangju, originally called Gwangju Parish. The present church building was dedicated in 1938.

When the Apostolic Prefecture of Gwangju was raised to an apostolic vicariate in 1957, Bukdong became the cathedral and remained the archdiocese's central cathedral until Imdong Cathedral was dedicated in 1983. It has since retained the status of co-cathedral. The church and rectory were designated a Gwangju Metropolitan City monument in 1999 for their value in early Korean church architecture, and the site also preserves traces of the Korean War and the May 18 Democratic Uprising.

Bukdong Co-Cathedral is therefore more than an ordinary local parish. Its present parish community, its co-cathedral status, its historic church architecture, and its memories of modern Gwangju together form the identity of the place.

Official source