Saemoonan Church, the oldest Presbyterian church in the country, was recognized with the Architecture MasterPrize, a prestigious architectural award given by the Farmani Group.

The new church building in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, was listed under the award’s Cultural Architecture category, announced Thursday. 

The award introduced it as the “Mother Church” of Korea, referring to the history of it being the first organized church in the nation. Saemoonan Church was established in 1887.

“Curvaceous wall facade of the new church building resembles the form of the mother embracing a child since the church is widely known as ‘Mother Church – Notre-Dame of Korea,’” the explanation read.

Saemoonan Church is the only church building to be included in the list of this year’s awardees. Completed in March this year, the landmark church building measures 4,231 square meters and consists of 13 floors above ground and five below. The church building was designed by Seoinn Design Group’s Choi Dong-kyu and Lee Eun-seok.

The award ceremony will be held on Oct. 14 at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain.

The Architecture MasterPrize was established by the Farmani Group in 2007 to recognize and celebrate “smart and sustainable multidisciplinary design.”

By Im Eun-byel (silverstar@heraldcorp.com)