[Joseon Images] Temples: sanctuary to escape summer heat

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Thu, December 7, 2023 | 21:53

Korean Traditions

Joseon ImagesTemples: sanctuary to escape summer heat

Posted : 2017-07-14 18:48

Updated : 2017-07-14 18:51

Bukhanhaenggung circa 1910 / Courtesy of Robert Neff collection

By Robert Neff

The Bukhan mountain region has always been popular with Seoul's residents as a refuge from the summer's heat. In the late 19th century, many of the Western residents in Seoul — mainly missionaries — rented space in Buddhist temples and set up camps — complete with servants. They usually stayed for two or three weeks and viewed it as "a novel experience." But not all experiences were good.

On Aug. 4, 1893, Patsy, the wife of Rev. William Davis Reynolds, gave birth to her "first child in a rude Buddhist Temple, a bed on the floor, no outside doors, only straw mats hung up for doors." It was a joyous occasion that soon turned to sorrow when the little boy died 10 days later.

Temples were not the only sanctuaries from heat. In the early 1910s, the Anglican Church in Seoul leased an "old derelict and half ruined palace up amongst the peaks... as a house of rest and refuge from the heat." The church didn't pay any rent for the palace but agreed to "put and keep it in repair."

This ruined palace was Bukhanhaenggung and was built by King Sukjong (r. 1674-1720) as a place of refuge for the royal family in the event of war and the destruction of Seoul. Construction of the palace and Bukhan fortress began in 1711 and was completed the following year. Fortunately, the palace was never used as a refuge and by the early 1900s was largely forgotten and fell into a state of disrepair.

In 1916, Mark Trollope — the Anglican Bishop of Korea from 1911 to 1930 — described the palace as standing some 1,500 feet above Seoul and consisting of a number of old buildings with three large courtyards.

"The bottom courtyard had an imposing front gateway, and was surrounded by a range of buildings presumably intended for retainers: from this one proceeded by a handsome flight of stone steps to the great triple gateway giving access to the next courtyard, which was similarly surrounded by ranges of low buildings for retainers, and in the centre of which stood a fine old Corean pavilion, about 50 feet by 25 feet broad... From this one ascended from another granite stairway through another triple gate into the top courtyard, which was almost an exact replica of the one below, pavilion and all... Immediately behind this top pavilion, a steep precipitous rock rises, and on each side of this a broad gentle depress, covered with trees and flowers, brought down a delightful little trickling brooklet, which supplied the premises with abundant and beautiful fresh water coming down from the mountain top and running past the outside of the buildings on both sides to join the babbling brook at the bottom of the main valley below."

It was an idyllic place until the rainy season of 1915 when nearly 106 centimeters of rain fell during a period of 20 days.

"We are accustomed to severe storms and heavy rain in our rainy season," Trollope wrote, but admitted he had never experienced a rainstorm in Korea equal to the one on July 23 and 24 when it was "almost a continuous thunderstorm for thirty-six hours."

Two days later (July 26), Trollope and a companion made their way to the palace and witnessed a scene that "beggared description." The little village at the base of the mountain and its residents had all been swept away — more than 30 people drowned. The palace had literally been erased by "avalanches of silt, enormous boulders and water" and the home of the Korean caretaker who had dwelt there with his wife and three children was completely gone — not even the foundations remained. Their bodies were discovered about 2 kilometers away.

This "useful place" to escape the summer's heat was gone and forgotten until 1991 when it was rediscovered. Since then, teams of archaeologists have been working to "excavate, investigate and preserve" this little known palace that began as a royal sanctuary and ended as a refuge from the heat.

"My appreciation to Park Hyun-uk, an archaeologist associated with the Bukhanhaenggung project, for his assistance." Robert Neff is a historian and columnist for The Korea Times. He can be reached at robertneff103@gmail.com.