Myeongdong Theater - Seoul, Korea
Posted by: 
silverquill
N 37° 33.827 E 126° 59.073
52S E 321996 N 4159326
This is one of the great restored historic buildings from the Japanese colonial era, in the heart of the fashionable Myeongdong district of Seoul.
Waymark Code: WMEBVW
Location: Seoul, South Korea
Date Posted: 05/04/2012
Views: 7
The Myeongdong Theater was built in 1934 as a cinema, named the Meiji Theater, by the Japanese architect Ishibashi Ryosuke. After the liberation of Korea from the oppressive Japanese occupation in 1945, the building was used as the Civic Auditorium by the Seoul Metropolitan Government until 1961. It also served as the home of the National Theater of Korea from 1957 to 1973.
Since then it has had an up and down history with periods of disuse. The theater was actually closed for a decade until extensive renovations were completed and it opened again as a vibrant center for the arts in June 2009. It retains much of its original baroque style exterior, but the theater itself had been reduced to a seating capacity of about 550, slightly more than a third of its original size. There are 339 seats on the main floor, 116 in the mezzanine, and 109 in the balcony.
For an extensive history of the theater, see an article in Koreana, a quarterly journal on Korean arts and culture. The official tourist web site, Hi-Seoul, has an interesting article on its recent renovation and reopening.