Explore Seoul

Myeongdong Cathedral is the seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul, a red- and grey-brick Gothic Revival church consecrated in 1898. It was built with the support of the Paris Foreign Missions Society; its crypt holds relics of Korean martyrs, and in the 1970s and 1980s it served as a refuge for pro-democracy protesters.

Jongmyo is the royal ancestral shrine of the Joseon dynasty, built in 1394 when King Taejo moved the capital to Seoul and rebuilt in the early 17th century after the Japanese invasions. Its long main hall, Jeongjeon, holds the spirit tablets of kings and queens, and the Jongmyo Jerye rite with court music is still held each year.

Jogyesa is the chief temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, in central Seoul near Insa-dong. Founded in 1910 as Gakhwangsa and given its present name in 1954, it centres on a large painted main hall, the Daeungjeon, beside an old lacebark pine that is a protected natural monument; the temple also runs a templestay programme.

Bongeunsa is a Buddhist temple of the Jogye Order on the slope of Sudosan in Gangnam, across the road from the COEX complex. Founded in 794 by the Silla monk Yeonhoe and named Bongeunsa in 1498, it was largely rebuilt after a fire in 1939; its Panjeon hall keeps woodblocks of the Flower Garland Sutra carved in 1855.