Martyrs Shrine

Recently I had an opportunity to visit the Korean Martyrs Museum-Shrine located near Hapjoeng station. The Museum-Shrine was originally built in 1967 on land where thousands of Catholics were killed for their faith from 1866-1873. 

According to the Archbishop of Seoul, the Shrine-Museum was established to "reawaken and renew the faith" of every visitor (you can read more about the Shrine-Museum here: korean_martyrs_museumshrine). Indeed, it is a powerfully moving and unique place to visit, particularly here in Seoul, as peace and a spirit of reverence pervade the grounds -difficult to come by in these parts.

The photos below depict the traditional 14 Stations of the Cross (as Catholic readers may know, not all of these traditional stations have clear biblical foundation). During our visit, I learned that in 1991, Pope John Paul II introduced a new version of the Stations based entirely on Scripture (which you can learn more about here:  Scriptural Stations). 

As my friend wisely noted, there really ought to be a 15th Station as Jesus did not remain in the grave but rather was resurrected. His resurrection is in fact the historical basis for the faith and hope of Christians, myself included.