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Korea Travel Qrator
Light David Ryan
: United States
Jeonju:
A Collage of Korea’s
Cultural History
November 15, 2019
#KoreaTourism #Jeonju #JeonjuHotel #Gyeonggijeon #Pungpaejigwan
* Korea Travel Qrator : A travel expert who explores Korea Quality-certified facilities and conveys the feeling of travel through vivid experience contents.
Jeonju is a uniquely historical city. In many ways, exploring Jeonju feels very much like looking at the rings in a cross section of a tree. Many places in Korea offer a piece of the country’s history from one era or another, but somehow Jeonju manages to contain the entire timeline at once.
This timeline begins with the founding of the Joseon Dynasty, which ruled the Korean Peninsula from 1392- 1910. The first king of Joseon is remembered as King Taejo, but was born in the Yi clan with the name Yi Seong-gye. The Yi clan has their ancestral home, or “BonGwan”, in Jeonju. Because of this, Jeonju came to be considered the home of the Joseon dynasty even though it was not the capital city of the kingdom.
Because of this there are many places in Jeonju with historical significance. Jeonju offers visitors a different view of Korea’s most famous historical kingdom.
Unlike the great palaces in Seoul, Jeonju’s historical locations show a more intimate side of the royal family which ruled Korea for almost 500 years. One of the most famous of these is Gyeonggijeon Shrine. This was built in 1410, during the reign of King Taejong , so serve as a monument to him in his ancestral home.
Another early Joseon landmark is Pungpaejigwan, which was constructed to be a guesthouse for government officials or envoys traveling on official business.
But as I said, the history that Jeonju offers is not contained to a specific historical period. Mixed in and around these Joseon landmarks are remnants from various other areas of Korean history. For example, right across from Gyeonggijeon Shrine is the Jeondong Cathedral, which is one the largest and oldest western-style structures in the country. It was built where the first Korean Catholic martyr, Yun Ji-chung, died in 1791.
Surrounding these landmarks is the Jeonju Hannok Village which contains various traditional homes built across the centuries and still inhabited today. These buildings provide a window into the lifestyles of the common folk of ages past. A tour of this village exposes visitors to the architectural styles of mid and late Joseon as well as during the Japanese occupation at the end of the 19th century.
Korean cultural history is a deep and fascinating topic, and one which is less known to the world at large compared with other histories. While any city in Korea offers and exposure to certain elements of Korean history, no place manages to offer the breadth and depth of that exposure like Jeonju does.
Jeonju Hotel, like the city it is named after, is also an experience of sorts in Korean history. In this case it is a very recent history that is evoked. Korea developed extremely rapidly in the decades after the Korean war, and many of the styles and aesthetics developed rapidly also. It’s an interesting experience then when you come across a building, such as Jeonju Hotel, which acts as a bit of a time capsule for recently passed decades.
Jeonju Hotel, and the neighborhood it inhabits, is almost a perfectly preserved representation of Korea in the 1980’s. The lights, shapes, patterns, and color choices all seem to have been frozen in time. Noraebangs welcome visitors on every corner and feature the most popular tunes of the previous generation. a remarkable thing to experience, and almost feels like being transported to the past. It’s a worthwhile experience for anyone curious what Korea used to look and feel like during its transition into the modern city of the present.
Hotel name | Jeonju Hotel |
---|---|
Website | http://hoteljeonju.com |
Address | 31, Sanjeong 2-gil, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-Si, Jeollabuk-do |
Price | 45,000 ~ 70,000 won |
Tel | (+82) 063-247-3333 |
Check in/out | 2PM / 11AM |
You’ll have to take a taxi from the Express Bus Terminal. Make sure you have the address in Korean handy for the driver. The old man who runs the place doesn’t speak English, but his wife does. Ask for her if you have any problems.
1. This column was last updated in March 2019, and therefore information may differ from what is presented here. We advise you to check details before visiting.
2. This travelogue is written by David Light. All contents are opinions based on my own experiences.