Page 156 - 영문 이성필성지순례여행

154 Jeolla-do Jeolla-do 155

139 Samdo Church 140 Missionary Wilson’s House

38 Singwang-gil, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju-si 20 Jejung-ro 47beon-gil, Nam-gu, Gwangju-si

Missionary Wilson’s House
The Presbyterian Church in the United States, which had missionary departments in North
Jeolla Province, decided to move to South Jeolla Province in 1896, and set up a site in Naju,
the center of South Jeolla Province at the time, but missionaries withdrew because the local
scholars’ death threat, and established the Mokpo Yangdong Church in 1898. On the other
hand, after Naju Missionary departments withdrew, Lee Mun-oh and his followers, who had
been receiving the gospel from missionary Eugene Bell, used Lee Mun-oh’s drinking house
as a place of worship, and Samdo Church was established.
It was the birth of the first self-sustaining church on January 5, 1897. Presbyterian Church
in Korea (Hap-dong) designated it as Korea’s Christian Historic Site No. 13. Especially, Samdo
Church made efforts to educate local communities by faith. It established Gwangmyeong
Residential School, and denied to worship Shinto shrine.
During the Korean War, the Korean People’s Army persecuted the church severely. The
“It was built in the 1920s by American
church erected a monument to commemorate the two martyrs and the seven alive people
missionary Robert M. Wilson and is the oldest
who said they would die for the church, and it tried to preserve history. The school has
remaining Western-style house in Gwangju.”
kept valuable materials such as the Book of Acts Commentary (1910) , The Pilgrim’s Progress
(1910) , Seonggyeong-dori (1916) , Oryun-haeng-sil Chwal-yo (1922) , Esther Commentary (1935) ,
and session minutes recorded since 1916, but there is a sad story that all of the church’s
Wilson’s private house is a two-story brick building located at the foot of Yangnim
historical photos were burned down due to the fact that the Communist Party saw the
Mountain in Yangnim-dong. It was built in the 1920s by Robert M. Wilson, an American
photos, found the saints, and shot them to death.
missionary, but the exact date of its construction is unknown. However, it is the oldest
surviving Western-style house in Gwangju. The building's floor plan is square, with the first
floor having a living room, family room, multipurpose room, kitchen and bathroom, and
the second floor having a bedroom for personal use. The basement level is a warehouse
“A drinking house became a place and a boiler room.
of worship, and Samdo Church The fact that the entrance of the house faces east is said to be a result of the prevailing
was established.” architectural culture of Korea at that time. It measures 10.6 meters in front. The structure
is as follows. The walls are 55-mm thick gray bricks stacked in the Dutch style, finished
with plaster on the inside and granite stacked on the top of the tympana. The opening was
made in a shape of a semi-circular arch, and the window part was stacked with bricks in
heading bond style. The house installed double window, the outside windows were sliders
and the inside windows were double-hug. Bricks were put on a turning band to distinguish
between the first and second floors. The front porch was stacked to a thickness of about 40
cm, and then the main head was made by stacking it four times on the floor of the second
floor to eliminate the monotony. It is not currently in use, but it is a valuable material to
help understand the flow of the modern Korean architecture. It was designated as Gwangju
Samdo Church, the first self-sustaining church in Gwangju area!
Metropolitan City Monument No. 15 on March 20, 1989.