• Journal of architectural history
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• v.14 no.3 s.43
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• pp.129-148
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• 2005

The plan type of Korean protestant church architecture underwent changes as following five stages according to the changes of the distinction between the sexes. First stage - At the beginning of missionary work in Korea, Koreans generally worshiped in missionary houses which were traditional Korean styles. The plan type of these houses was a simple '-' figure. At that time, men and women worshiped separately because of the idea of the distinction between the sexes. They either worshiped in different places at the same time or in the same place at the different time. Second stage - At this stage, men and women started to worship together in the same place. At the beginning of this stage, men sat in the front of the chapel on a rostrum, and women sat behind the men. The plan type of the chapel was a simple '-' or a rectangular figure. Later, they sat separately on the right and left side. There are the visual interceptions which were set up between them. As the number of church members increased rapidly, a new type of church architecture appeared. It was a 'ㄱ' figure. At that time the entrances were separated by the sexes. Third stage - At this stage, the visual interceptions disappeared as the idea of the distinction between the sexes became weak. As new churches had been constructed by the plan type of rectangular figure, the visual interceptions weren't set up anymore. Fourth stage - At this stage, the separated entrances were unified as one. But the arrangement of their seats didn't change because of the old idea of the distinction between the sexes. Fifth stage - In the final stage, the plan type of the church architecture was not determined by the idea of the distinction between the sexes but social, economical, technological facts and the influence of the foreign architecture. At this stage, new and various kinds of the plan type appeared such as the fan, round, squared, or oval figure as well as the rectangular figure. Men and women were not classified anymore. They started to sit and worship together in the same place. Also, when men and women sat separately from side to side because of the Idea of the distinction between the sexes, men sat on the right and women sat on the left side of rostrum. It didn't applied Confucian ideas but the idea of protestant church; protestant churches have the idea that the right side is more important but it does not in Confucianism.