A plan by the Seoul metropolitan authorities to permit the development of a 142-meter constructing reverse Jongmyo Shrine — the royal Confucian shrine the place ancestral rites for Joseon Dynasty kings are nonetheless held — has drawn opposition from the Korea Heritage Service, which warned that the undertaking may diminish the positioning’s historic worth.
Inbuilt 1395, Jongmyo enshrines the spirit tablets (tablets inscribed with the names of the deceased) of 49 Joseon Dynasty kings and queens. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage website in 1995 and is acknowledged because the oldest and most intact Confucian royal ancestral shrine, with its unique spatial structure absolutely preserved.
Town authorities final week raised allowable constructing heights in Sewoon district 4, with Jongmyo Shrine to the north and Cheonggye Stream to the south. Beneath the brand new plan, limits will improve from 55 to 98.7 meters within the north and from 71.9 to 141.9 meters within the south.
Positioned about 180 meters from the shrine, the district has been marked for redevelopment since 2004, however initiatives have stalled for greater than twenty years amid considerations over preserving the historic panorama and questions on improvement feasibility.
A redevelopment website in Sewoon district 4 in Jongno District, central Seoul, is seen in August 2022. Korea Occasions photograph by Lee Han-ho.
The peak restriction was revised for the primary time since 2018, prompting the Korea Heritage Service to right away object.
“We specific deep remorse that Seoul revised and issued the redevelopment plan for Sewoon District 4 close to Jongmyo Shrine with out finishing up the evaluate course of really useful by UNESCO,” the company stated in a press release Monday.
The company stated the 71.9-meter restrict had been set by consultations with the town, however Seoul unilaterally raised the cap, successfully greater than doubling the peak allowance. The company warned that the change may harm the shrine’s excellent common worth.
“Jongmyo is a website for solemn royal rites, and its tranquility is important,” the company stated. “Because of this, when the shrine was inscribed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage Record in 1995, UNESCO specified that no high-rise development close by needs to be authorised if it will hurt the positioning’s panorama.”
The company stated the U.N. cultural physique suggested assessing how the redevelopment would have an effect on the heritage, and that it requested the town to maintain the 71.9-meter restrict till that evaluate was accomplished and mirrored in any adjustments.
Nevertheless, it stated the town authorities proceeded with the revised peak discover with out doing so.
“We are going to carefully evaluate the newly introduced plan and focus on it with the Cultural Heritage Committee (inside the company) and UNESCO, after which think about any needed home and worldwide measures, whereas persevering with dialogue with the town,” the company stated.
This isn’t the primary time high-rise improvement close to a cultural heritage website has sparked controversy in Korea.
In 2021, the federal government halted development of high-rise residences being constructed close to Jangneung, a Joseon Dynasty royal tomb in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage website in 2009.
The halt was issued as a result of the builders didn’t endure the evaluate required for buildings over 20 meters tall inside 500 meters of the tomb.
World Heritage websites might be positioned on UNESCO’s World Heritage in Hazard checklist — and even stripped of their standing — if they don’t seem to be correctly managed amid improvement pressures.
Vienna’s historic middle was added to the hazard checklist in 2017 following considerations that fast city improvement was harming its cultural panorama.
Liverpool Maritime Mercantile Metropolis in the UK, listed in 2004, was positioned on UNESCO’s World Heritage in Hazard checklist in 2012 because of large-scale redevelopment and in the end misplaced its World Heritage standing 9 years later.
