Royal Shrines, Hospitals, and Ancient Colleges: A Tour around the Daehak-ro area and its surroundings

Leader: Jihoon Suk

DATE: Saturday. April 15, 2023. 1:30pm to 4:30pm
DESTINATION(S): Daehak-ro area
COST: 30,000 won for members; 40,000 won for non-members

MEETING POINT: At the top of Exit #3 of Hyehwa Sation (Subway Line 4). At 1:30PM.

RSVP by April 13 (Thursday) by clicking HERE with payment of the fee via bank transfer. Please register one RSVP at a time.

☞Payment to be remitted to the following account:
SHINHAN BANK ACCOUNT # 100-026-383501 (RAS-KB)

*Reservation is not confirmed until payment has been received by RAS Korea in advance of the event.

We will begin our tour by seeing the old Keijo Imperial University (precursor to SNU) buildings and the Old Keijo Technical Institute headquarters building, then will move up to the old Gyeongmo-gung site (aka Hamchun-won), the site of a royal shrine built in the memory of Prince Sado, the famous “mad prince” who were put to death in a rice chest by his father, King Yeongjo. After that, we will see the old Daehan Hospital, the first state-sponsored modern hospital ever built (in 1907). We will then walk to the Myeongryun-dong area to see the old Sungkyunkwan, the state academy / Confucian shrine of Joseon Korea and the precursor to SKKU. Time permitting, we will also try to visit the former residence of Prime Minister John M. Chang’s house, a beautifully (and authentically) restored Hanok (and a Japanese-style annex) built in 1937 that are equipped with much of its original furniture. While this tour is more or less oriented towards Korean modern history (colonial era), I will also try to explain (and show!) many pre-modern history of the region.

** As our excursion leaders are often too focused on leading to take photos of their own tours, we hope that you will consider sharing with us a few photos from the excursion, or write a sentence or two about your experience that we could use in future promotional efforts on behalf of the society.  Any quotes, photos, videos, or other material would be used with attribution.