Cheongna Hill

Cheongna Hill, a gently sloping neighborhood in Daegu’s Jung-gu District, holds traces of those who planted the seeds of the modern era in the city over a century ago. The area is home to Jejungwon (now Keimyung University Dongsan Hospital) and Sinmyeong Girls’ Middle School (now Sinmyeong High School), a place that bears witness to the missionaries who paved the way for modern medicine and education in Daegu.

At the top the hill sits three Western-style residences — Switzer House, Chamness House, and Blair House — designed and built by Northern Presbyterian (U.S.A.) missionaries in the early 1900s. They were among the first to introduce Western style housing and lifestyle to the region, and the structures now stand as some of the few remaining architectural legacies of Korea’s modern era in the area. Among the three residences, Switzer House is notable for its distinctive appearance, featuring traditional Korean roof tiles atop its Western-style structure.

Passing the missionary residences and descending a short way down the slope, the March 1st Independence Movement Road commences. Known as the “90 Steps,” these stone steps were the primary path along which students and residents of Daegu used to avoid Japanese military surveillance and secretly convene during the 1919 March First Independence Movement. Students from Gyeseong School and Shinmyeong Girls’ School spearheaded the march, passing by the Gyesan Cathedral and up the historic stone steps.

Descending these steps amid the orange glow of the sunset draping the hill, it feels as if one can hear, echoing across time, the voices of medical professionals who put patients before the institution, missionaries who sought to cultivate young minds through education and the young people who cried out for their nation’s independence. Cheongna Hill remains today a quiet yet resilient repository of memories, where vivid scenes from Korea’s modern history lie layered one upon another.

Gyesan Cathedral

Descending the 90 Steps from Cheongna Hill, one comes upon Gyesan Cathedral. Built in 1902 as Daegu’s first Gothic-style cathedral, it is emblematic of the city’s modern architecture. Its exterior, with striking red bricks and pointed spires, was designed with input from the French missionary Father Poisnel, while Joseon Dynasty artisans oversaw its construction, yielding a unique beauty that harmonizes Eastern and Western techniques. Stepping inside, a serene yet sublime ambiance permeates the space. Sunlight streaming through stained-glass windows dapples the floor, as if marking the passage of time. During the March First Independence Movement of 1919, students from Gyeseong and Shinmyeong schools convened in front of this cathedral to stage independence demonstrations, and the area has since been remembered as a focal point of Daegu’s anti-Japanese colonial-era resistance movement.

Seomun Market

“Eoseo oiso ! ” (“Welcome!”) The friendly Gyeongsang-do provincial dialect rings out as you enter Seomun Market, immediately enveloped by a lively energy where past and present naturally mingle. Heir to the legacy of Daegujang — ranked among the Joseon Dynasty’s top three markets alongside Pyeongyangjang and Ganggyeongjang — this traditional market originated during the reign of King Hyeonjong in the 17th century and encompasses over 300 years of history. Within its labyrinthine alleys, a dense tapestry of scenes from different eras unfolds: hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) shops beneath faded signs that have weathered over the years, traditional herbalists in a corner of the Yangnyeongsi medicinal market section, and trendy boutiques side-by-side. By day, the aroma of Daegu specialties like nureun guksu (flat noodles) and napjak mandu (flat dumplings) wafts through the lanes. By night, young travelers converging from across the nation create memories beneath the lights of the night market, as they wait for steaming bowls of eomuk (fish cake) broth to cool. Notably, the Seomun Night Market, which opened for the year on March 21, operates exclusively on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, adding extra vitality to weekend evenings.

Kansong Art Museum Daegu

Exploring the streets around Daegu’s Modern Culture Alley and getting lost in the city’s memories, the journey eventually leads to the Kansong Art Museum Daegu. It stands as a quiet yet resolute monument where the conviction of one man, who risked everything during the Japanese colonial period to safeguard his nation’s cultural heritage, is given spatial form. That central figure was Chun Hyungpil, who went by the pen name Kansong. He wielded a brush instead of a sword, and promoted Goryeo celadon in place of firearms. Amid a crisis of potential cultural erasure, he held fast to the value of Korean cultural heritage, protecting countless relics ranging from Goryeo celadon to the Hunminjeongeum Haerye (The Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People Manuscript with Explanations and Examples). Opened in 2024, the museum showcases the culturally significant relics he dedicated his life to collecting.

Architect Choi Moonkyu faithfully translated Kansong’s conviction of munhwaboguk (presenting national spirit through culture) into a physical space. The 11 majestic wooden pillars stand guard at the museum entrance, pine trees are naturally woven into the visitor pathways, and the interior and exterior spaces are organically linked, following the site’s natural contours. All these elements deftly interlace nature and art, tradition and modernity. Constructed from stone and wood indigenous to Daegu, the space aims to be the “most Korean art museum” and the “art museum most integrated into nature.” Perhaps most striking is the symbolism: adding to the 11 structural pillars, the visitor becomes the 12th, symbolically completing the architectural vision. It is a beautiful metaphor, suggesting the museum is not merely an “object to be protected” but a “space to coexist within.”

Should visitors venture from here to the Daegu Art Museum nearby, they will be rewarded with the experience of grasping the rich scope of Korean art, from antiquity to the present, in a single visit.