Maybe most of the Korean students have already visited Gyeongju-si for their field trip. Gyeongju, the capital city of ancient Korea, holds a lot of historical landmarks and treasures such as Bulguksa, Cheomseongdae and other worthwhile treasures. A lot of places and artifacts have been registered in UNESCO and many of those artifacts still remains undercover. The beauty in the historical landmarks and artifacts are still attracting numerous individuals from around the world. What Korean historical artifact or landmarks attracted you the most? For me, the historical landmark that attracted me the most is Posekjeong.
Koreans have been a tribe of people who likes festivities. People usually overcome the difficulty of work by singing songs or drinking. For instance, under the agricultural society, ancient Koreans made Nongak, the traditional Korean music performed by farmers to release their stress. Not just farmers, kings or nobles also liked to hold parties and enjoy gathering together. Poseokjeong is the place where the kings’ parties were usually held.
Poseokjeong was registered as the first historical landmark of Korea on 21, January, 1963. It is located in western part of Gyeingju Namsan. At Poseokjeong, there is a waterway which is made with rocks. It is called Yusanggoksu. In the end of this artificial stream, there was a turtle-shaped stone statue with water coming out of it. Unfortunately, it is gone now. At Poseokjeong, former kings gathered together and made some poems and songs while they enjoy eating their food and drinking some alcohol. They use Yusanggoksu to deliver alcohol. Kings let the alcohol filled cups float on water. They let it flow to one whom they want to send it to. The amazing thing was that the liquid in the cup never spills. How was it possible hundreds years ago? It just shows how smart our ancestors were.
Lots of artifacts were excavated 50meters away from the southern part of Poseokjeong. Historians have been supposing that there was a big building nearby Poseokjeong. Also there is another presumption that Poseokjoeng was the place where the holy ritual was held. According to Hwarangsaegi; the story of Hwarang (the organization of talented people), Poseokjeong was used as a temple. Poseokjeong is still a mysterious place and there are a lot of things that are still undiscovered. Maybe that is the reason why historical landmarks like Poseokjeong lures people. It interests people to study and learn more about this landmark.
by Kim Ji Won , GEO Class 5-2 (Professor Stephen Jone and TA Peter's class)
Photos courtesy of Doopedia.
