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[B&C Club] Life and Works of Russian Architect Afanasy Seredin-Sabatin
October 27, 2020 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm KST
| FreeLife and Works of Russian Architect Afanasy Seredin-Sabatin
Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2020. 12:00PM-1:00PM
Leader: Jacco Zwetsloot & Jun YK Shin
Meeting point: Just outside the main entrance to Deoksugung Palace (덕수궁). At 12:00PM.
* No registration required.
Russian Architect Afanasy Seredin-Sabatin was a character like Forrest Gump or Zelig or Henry Rhodes Hamilton – in that he turned up in Korea in time to take part in a number of remarkable events and happenings, and worked on quite a few buildings now of historical importance.
The Russian first worked as a tidewaiter in the port city of Incheon upon his arrival in 1883. During the 22 or so years that he was here, he led the construction of:
* Deoksu Palace’s Jungmyeongjeon (royal library-cum-temporary King’s quarters)
* Jeonggwanheon Pavilion (where Emperor Kojong drank coffee and met visiting dignitaries in the warmer months)
*Dongnimmun (Independence) Gate,
* Gwanmun-gak (a 3-story Western building in Gyeongbok Palace and one of the first Korean buildings to be electrified)
*Jemulpo Club (a club house for Westerners in Incheon)
*The Russian Legation (of which only the white tower remains in Jeongdong)
*Incheon Customs House (which after World War Two proudly displayed a banner reading “Welcome to Inchon, the best damn port in the Pacific” until it was destroyed in the Korean War)
*Sontag Hotel (one of the first Korea hotels in a purpose built Western-style building)
Apart from his career as an architect, Seredin-Sabatin was also a key witness to the murder of Queen Min, the wife of King Gojong, by Japanese assassins in 1895, when he worked inside Gyeonbok Palace as a guard (or trainer of guards).
This exhibition is only open until November 11, so now is the right time to go and see it!
