Solmoe Martyrs Shrine

The family house came first

Solmoe’s core is the restored Daegundang, a low tile-roofed hanok marking the birthplace of Saint Andrew Kim Taegon, born here in 1821 and raised here until age seven. The house belonged to a Catholic family that produced four generations of martyrs: Kim Jin-hu, Kim Han-hyeon, Kim Je-jun and Andrew Kim himself

That family sequence gives the site unusual depth. Andrew Kim later studied in Macao, was ordained in Shanghai in 1845 and returned to Korea as the country’s first Korean-born Catholic priest. He was arrested the following year and executed at Saenamteo in Seoul

The pine grove keeps the place domestic

The shrine’s name means a small hill thick with pine trees, and the old grove remains the most direct landscape around the birthplace. The house, low stone edges and pines keep the origin story at the scale of a rural home rather than a monumental church

The current house is a restoration, completed in 2004 after historical research into the birthplace. The protected historic site now covers 13,121 square metres, but the family compound remains the anchor. A bronze figure of Pope Francis seated in prayer outside the house records the moment he stopped here during his 2014 visit to Korea

Memorial architecture arrived around it

Solmoe grew into a larger pilgrimage complex without erasing that small domestic center. Beyond the house are the Andrew Kim memorial hall, a chapel, statues, the pine grove and the semicircular Arena, where twelve apostle figures stand around a space used for outdoor Mass and gatherings

The Arena took on international significance in August 2014, when Pope Francis met young Catholics from across Asia here during Asian Youth Day. Seven years later, the shrine marked the bicentenary of Andrew Kim’s birth; his national importance had already been reinforced by canonization in 1984 and the site’s designation as Historic Site No. 529 in 2014

The pilgrimage route extends beyond Solmoe

Solmoe also works as the northern anchor of a wider Catholic landscape around Hapdeok. Dangjin’s current heritage routes connect it with Hapdeok Cathedral and Sinri Shrine, and local buses now link Solmoe with Hapdeok Station and Sinri

That wider route helps place the birthplace in context. Solmoe is where Andrew Kim’s family story begins; other sites carry the later history of persecution, ministry and martyrdom

Before you go

Start at the restored birthplace before moving to the memorial hall, pine grove and Arena. The sequence is clearer in that order because the later monuments all refer back to the family house. Mass is held daily, and group pilgrimage Mass requires advance reservation, so large groups should arrange their visit before arrival