The Marmot’s Hole

It was a beautiful day today, so the wife and I went to Seongbuk-dong to visit the Seongnagwon Garden, a late Joseon-era villa and probably the finest example of Korean traditional gardening in Seoul outside of the Biwon Garden of Changdeokgung Palace. On the way home, we stopped by Daehangno, where I used the opportunity to revisit a couple of old favorites, Daehan Hospital and the Former National Industry Institute.

For the Flickr slideshow, click here (sorry, no interracial porn this time).

Seongnagwon Garden

The Seongnagwon Garden was originally a villa used by Sim Sang-eung, a high ranking official under King Cheoljong (1849—1863). Later, it was used as a detached palace by Yi Gang, or Prince Imperial Ui, the fifth son of King Gojong. In fact, it here that Yi Gang died in 1955.

The garden is broken into three sections — an entrance, an inner garden (where the main villa buildings are located) and a rear garden. Although not nearly as extensive as the Biwon of Changdeokgung Palace, it is nevertheless a beautiful example of Korean gardening, making excellent use of the hilly natural landscape. The artificial aspects — the pavilions, the man-made watefalls — are designed to enhance the natural surroundings, not dominate them. Chung Jae-hoon, Professor of Traditional Landscape Architecture, Korean National University of Cultural Heritage, writes:

The conceptual roots of Korean culture lie in the worship of nature. The imported ideology of Buddhism was added to this around the fourth century, while Taoist thought became widely disseminated about the seventh century. It was from this ideological background that the Korean garden was created. From the 15th century, the Song Confucianism of Zhu xi became the ruling ideology of Joseon, along with landscape architecture coming under the influence of such concepts as yin-yang, the five elements, and geomancy.

In particular, Song Confucianism’s view of nature strongly influenced Joseon gardens. It was through these influences that Joseon art was created, with its naturalistic style untouched by artifice, while a worldly, practical lifestyle flourished, based on moderation and diligence. Indeed, this led to the development of a highly humanistic and straight-forward naturalistic culture.

Korea’s cultural heritage includes nothing as monumental or imposing as the Great Wall of China or the Grand Canal that links the Yellow River to the Yangtze River. This is because Koreans believe that anything so huge will overwhelm and alienate human beings. On the other hand, Japanese have long suffered from natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, typhoons, and tidal waves. As such, they were able to survive only by overcoming these menacing forces of nature. As a reflection of this, Japanese gardens feature a contrived sense of aesthetics. All Oriental gardens are rooted in concepts about nature, but because of differences in their respective natural environment, lifestyle, and values, the gardens of Korea, China, and Japan each possess their own unique characteristics.

He certainly puts it better than I could.

If you’re looking for a place to come to relax to the sounds of flowing water and chirping birds, this is the perfect place — especially considering entry is free. It’s hidden away in quiet and incredibly afluent Seongbuk-dong, not far from Gansong Art Museum (open only in May and October). There are a few other cool things to see in the area, too, although the lovely Choe Sun-woo House is closed on Sunday, we were disappointed to learn. In fact, Seongnagwon is technically closed on Sunday, too, so call ahead before you visit (02 920-3410~2). This is something that, frankly, I find rather annoying — tourist and cultural sites being closed on Sunday. Who the hell can visit these places during the week?

Cold Stone Creamery, Daehangno

The bus homes passes through Daehangno, and the wife wanted to stop off to have ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery, the US ice cream chain that I’d never heard of before today, which should give you an idea of just how “out of the loop” I am.

Daehan Hospital

What I do know, however, is early modern architecture, and this is one of my favorites — the Daehan Hospital, built in 1907. I did a full write-up on the place in June of last year, so I don’t intend to do so again. Suffice it to say that the hospital — now a medical museum operated by SNU Medical School — is one of the crown jewels of Korean early modern architecture, a beautiful neo-classical building with neo-Baroque ornamentation. The building was designed by a Japanese architect employed by the Daehan imperial government.

Former National Industry Institute

Across the street from SNU Medical School, on the campus of Korea Open University, is the former main hall of National Industry Institute, which I also wrote up last year (see link above). Designed by a Japanese architect in the employ of the Daehan imperial government (like Daehan Hospital), it was completed in 1908, and is the only remaining wooden Western-style building from the Daehan Empire period. If you like German-style Renaissance architecture, here you go.