Jeoldusan Martyrs' Museum and Shrine

Get to Jeoldusan Museum via subway Hapjeong station, Line 2 & 6, Exit 7. 

Since September is Korea's 'Month of Martyrs', despite missing the 20th's universal feast of St. Andrew Kim Taegon (1821-1846, the first Korean priest and martyr and also the patron of the Korean clergy), I paid a visit to the Jeoldusan Martyrs' Museum and Shrine that overlooks a part of the north bank of the long Han River. I timed the visit on a weekday to coincide with a 3pm mass.

Built in 1967 and refurbished in 2000 and 2009, the museum is a memorial to the (native Koreans) Catholics killed in the Beyeon-in (also known as 'Pyong-in') Persecution of 1866 - 1873. The father-Regent Daewongun (of King Gojong) of the Joseon Dynasty was aghast at the French invasion which he saw it as an act allowed by the Catholic church, and decreed that native Koreans who were Catholics, traitors. It was said that "Permitting fraternizing with Western Barbarians is a betrayal of the country". The policy of isolation pursued by the Joseon dynasty only made Korea more attractive to the Western colonial powers, and Japanese imperialistic ambitions. Well, 'jeoldu' means 'beheading', and 'jeoldu-san' simply means 'beheading mountain'. I guess it could be taken literally as the persecution saw thousands killed. So they would have been decapitated; their heads might have rolled down into the Han River. How pleasant.

There were many names of martyrs and saints, missionaries and followers. I tried not to remember them as I passed through the memorials, stones, grotto and chapel. It was too depressing to envision life in the 17th century and the horror they had to face because of their religion. (Nothing has changed very much in the world since then.) I was utterly fascinated by the torture instruments on display. Trying to wrap my brains around how a rope through a hole in a stone could be used to strangle a person; the same way I shudder at how the Khmer Rouge threw babies onto palm tree fronds to spear and bleed them to death. What is it about humans that find such great enjoyment in torturing other humans? Just kill them and be done with it. Seriously. Torture is just so gruesome. But one begins to understand how soldiers or torturers remain immune in the face of massacre. War museums across the world always like to feature torture methods used.

Didn't take photos of the area. Somehow, I didn't feel like it. It seemed superfluous. By now, the grounds are a pretty park. Yanghwajin Foreigners' Cemetery is on this same site. Took a stroll through to look at the headstones. Not breathtakingly beautiful, but simply solemnly dignified. I like cemeteries, especially when it isn't bleak winter with bare trees. Still green, but the trees have begun to don autumn colors. Serenity now pervades a site that has seen so much blood, pain and anger.