용산예수성심신학교

History & origins

The Sacred Heart Seminary was founded on October 28, 1885, at Bueongol in Gangwon Province. After the Korea-France Treaty changed the environment for Catholic mission, the seminary moved to Yongsan in March 1887. As the number of seminarians increased, the surviving school building was completed in 1911.

The Yongsan seminary became an important center for the formation of Catholic clergy in Korea, but the Japanese authorities closed it in February 1942. To prevent the building from being requisitioned, a branch of St. Mary’s Hospital was opened there in 1944, and the property took on new uses after liberation.

The Religious of the Sacred Heart, who entered Korea in the mid-1950s, later used the building as a convent and school-foundation office. After restoration work that recovered much of its original appearance, it is now used for historical exhibitions and offices. The building itself was designated a separate Historic Site in 2012 and is preserved as a major monument of Korean Catholic history.