E0-501

Story

Afanasy Ivanovich Seredin-Sabatin (1860-1921, Афанасий Иванович Середин-Сабатин) is known as Korea's first European architect. Born to a landed gentry family in Lubny Poltava, Ukraine, he briefly attended an architectural university but did not graduate and went on to become a steersman-pilot of a Russian vessel in the Far East. He first arrived in Joseon Korea in 1883 after having been hired by Paul Georg von Möllendorff to work at the Incheon Customs Office. At this time, King Gojong (r. 1864-1907) was interested in constructing new Western-style buildings and commissioned Sabatin as an architect.

During his time in Korea, Sabatin designed a number of architectural structures both in Incheon and Seoul. Those in Incheon included the headquarters of the Incheon Customs Office (1883), the official residence of the Sechang Corporation (1884), the pier of Incheon Port (1884), Freedom Park (1888), the main building of the Jemulpo Club (1889), and the auxiliary building of the Jemulpo Club (1901). Those in Seoul included the Russian Legation (1890), Gwanmungak Hall of Gyeongbokgung Palace (1891), Dongnimmun Gate (1897), Jeonggwanheon Hall (1900) and Jungmyeongjeon Hall (1901) of Deoksugung Palace, and the Sontag Hotel (1902). Among the architectural works he designed, only six remain, namely Freedom Park, the main building of the Jemulpo Club, the tower of the Russian Legation, Dongnimmun Gate, Jeonggwanheon Hall, and Jungmyeongjeon Hall.

During this period, other Western-style buildings were designed by architects such as Sim Ui-seok (1854-1924), who worked with Sabatin on the design of Dongnimmun Gate and the Sontag Hotel. Sim's other works include Pai Chai Boys' School (1887), Hwanggudan Altar (1897) and Hwanggungu Shrine (1899), the Octagonal Pavilion of Tapgol Park (1897), Jungdong Church (1898), the main hall of Ewha Girls' School (1899), Sangdong Church (1901), Hyeomnyulsa Theatre (1902), the pavilion for the Monument for the 40th Anniversary of King Gojong's Enthronement (1902), and Seokjojeon Hall (1909) in Deoksugung Palace.

Sabatin left Korea in 1904 amidst the Russo-Japanese War. Sabatin has become an iconic figure of late-19th-century Western architecture in Korea due to his identity as a Westerner, the prolific number of his works, and their relative socio-political and historic importance. For example, the Russian Legation was where King Gojong took refuge for about a year in the aftermath of the assassination of his consort Queen Min (1851-1895, posthumously Empress Myeongseong). The Sontag Hotel was frequented by almost all the major foreign dignitaries who visited or lived in Korea at the time. And Jungmyeongjeon Hall was where the Korea-Japan Protectorate Treaty of 1905 was illegitimately signed by pro-Japanese collaborators after King Gojong refused to sign despite threats by the Japanese troops of bodily harm.

In addition to his architectural contributions, Sabatin is also well-known for having been one of two Western witnesses, along with the American general William McEntyre Dye (1831-1899), to the barbaric assassination of Empress Myeongseong at the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army in the early hours of October 8, 1985 at Geoncheonggung Royal Residence inside of Gyeongbokgung Palace. His detailed testimony helped to prevent a cover-up of the events by the Japanese.

Semantic Data

Node Description

id	class	groupName	partName	label	hangeul	hanja	english	infoUrl	iconUrl
E0-501	Story	Episode	English	Afanasy_Seredin-Sabatin,_Korea’s_First_European_Architect				http://dh.aks.ac.kr/hanyang2/wiki/index.php/E0-501

Contextual Relations

source	target	relation	attribute	note
Afanasy_Seredin-Sabatin,_Korea’s_First_European_Architect	[[]]	isRelatedTo
Afanasy_Seredin-Sabatin,_Korea’s_First_European_Architect	[[]]	hasPart
Afanasy_Seredin-Sabatin,_Korea’s_First_European_Architect	[[]]	isPreviousInSequence

Web Resource

type	resource	title	description/caption	URL
참고

• type: 해설, 참고, 원문 / 사진, 동영상, 도면, 그림, 지도, 3D_지도, 3D_모델

Bibliography

type	bibliographic index	online resource	url

• type: 단행본, 논문, 도록, 자료집
• online resource: KCI, RISS, DBpia, 네이버 학술정보 .....