9th Anniversary of Cheongshim World Peace Center
FFWPU-Korea
Nine years ago, on March 22, 2012, doors opened to a massive arena nestled in the rolling hillside of Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. The Cheongshim World Peace Center, designed to hold 25,000 people, has since hosted a litany of world events—from international Marriage Blessing ceremonies to the recent virtual Rally of Hope series and Grand CheonBo Festival during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“From now… we can use this place to give birth to hundreds of thousands of blessed families here,” said the late Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, co-founder of Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), who emphasized the importance of the arena as a Marriage Blessing venue during its dedication ceremony.
For more than five decades, Rev. Moon and his wife, FFWPU co-founder Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, officiated numerous Marriage Blessings between couples worldwide, promoting peace and reconciliation among people of all backgrounds. The peace center, located near the Cheongpyeong Heaven and Earth Training Center, is the largest and most sophisticated multipurpose cultural center in all of South Korea—eight times larger than the Sejong Performing Arts Center and twice as large as the Olympic Gymnastics Arena.
The hours-long dedication and commemorative ceremony, held simultaneously with the 53rd True Parents’ Day, designated the Cheongshim World Peace Center as a “creative cultural place that designs the happiness of life.” True Parents is an affectionate term for Rev. and Dr. Moon.
Rev. Moon noted that being God-centered and family-oriented is the foundation for a happy life, so while the peace center has hosted myriad activities and programs over the years—like the Unification Sports Festival—its fundamental purpose has remained the Marriage Blessing ceremonies.
“From the past, through the present and until the future, heaven and earth will establish God’s one sovereign nation,” said Rev. Moon. “When man and woman is completed on the foundation of individual perfection, husband and wife is established, and then after building a family, within the family, through the connection of the Blessing… that centers on God… love springs out.”
The ‘Crown of Glory,’ a musical based on the life of Rev. and Dr. Moon using 3D video and other technologies, was performed by more than 120 actors and orchestral musicians during the dedication ceremony. This laid the groundwork for many state-of-the-art live broadcasts of international Marriage Blessing ceremonies and rallies to come.
The 2020 Special Blessing in October was the first virtual international ceremony, broadcasted from the Cheongshim World Peace Center, where all couples participated remotely. On April 25, a second virtual Marriage Blessing will be live streamed there.
