South Korea: A Photo-essay

For other artefacts from Korea’s past, the National Museum has a fascinating collection, although the ceramics at Leeum are are better displayed. In the National Museum we find some spectacular pieces, such as the Crown of Silla, worn by the kings of one of Korea’s ancient kingdoms, who unified the peninsula in the seventh century CE.

As you would expect, the National Museum surveys the country’s past, from prehistoric settlement to the nineteenth century. By contrast, the Leeum captures apparently different aspects of Korea’s present: a culture steeped in and respectful of its traditions on the one hand, and vitally hypermodern on the other. In addition to exhibitions of contemporary artists, the Leeum also has an impressive permanent collection, including the Oliafur Eliasson installation that you see pictured here.

The work is made for this space, and the relationship between the circles of light and you, the viewer, shifts as you move up and down the stairs – so much so that it appears to be different works of art! It can be quite disorienting with the mirrored walls and ceiling: like everyone else there that day, I ended up taking numerous photos from different angles, unsure of which was the ideal place to view the work and knowing full well that there is no single ‘best’ place.

PALACES

Seoul has been the capital of the Korean peninsula for 500 years (and of the Republic of Korea from the 1950s). The history of the Joseon dynasty – which ruled from the fifteenth to the early twentieth century – is everywhere, but it is particularly concentrated in the north of the city, where the mountains meet the river valley. Here there are five extant royal palaces. Their size and condition gives you insight into how the ruling family lived and on the elaborate protocols surrounding government.

The palaces are sets of buildings, each with a different purpose. Some of these are connected by breezeways, while others require a walk across fields and gardens. Despite the pomp and ceremony of the official and diplomatic spaces of theses palaces, there are many more intimate spaces. These include the residences of the king and queen, into which only a few people can squeeze at a time.

Below are some photos from Gyeongbokgung Palace, including the throne room and one of the pagodas by the artificial lakes.

The painted architecture throughout the palace complexes is delightful, especially when set against the blues skies of the day or the raking golden light of the late afternoon. As Seoul is both hot in summer and freezing in winter, the palaces’ doors and windows can be opened or closed off in sections, changing the appearance of the buildings quite dramatically.

Temples and Shrines

Temples, shrines and monasteries too shape Seoul’s urban and cultural landscape, and this phenomenon sits side by side with a population that doesn’t have a reputation for being overly pious or necessarily observant.  

Jongmyo Shrine in Seoul, for example, is the resting place of the tablets on which the royal family members’ ‘soul’ is inscribed. According to Confucian custom, these tablets, rather than the body, are a person’s worldly remains after death. The site is UNESCO World Heritage-listed, as the customary Confucian ceremonies for the souls of the royal family continue unabated to this day – although the family have not ruled Korea since the Japanese occupation of the 1920s.

Shown here is the Ancestral Path, the stone path through the huge complex of shrines that is reserved for spirits and the officials tasked with carrying their spirit tablets to the temples. Visitors are not allowed to walk on the stone paths and, where they must cross one, they will find a strip of carpet that prevents worldly folk making unnecessary contact with the other realm.

Most of Korea’s Buddhist temple complexes are in the mountains, taking advantage of beautiful sites, a cooler summer climate, and the luck of being closer to the heavens. The Hongdae Yonggungsa temple, however, is different: it is one of the few Buddhist temples by the sea. This is a fascinating and beautiful temple to visit, with traditional architecture, monks leading prayers, and some unexpectedly quirky elements, such as the Pagoda of Traffic Safety at the entrance – yes, really: modern life and ancient beliefs can go hand in hand in quirky ways! There is also a statue of Buddha whose distended stomach is polished by the number of hands who’ve rubbed it in the hope of children.

Modernity

These places of peace and history may seem a stark contrast to the hubbub of large, modern cities in which life continues to be lived 24 hours a day. But despite the size of its cities, Korea has a strong neighbourhood feel. In this respect, the cities are decentralised – unlike, say new world cities in Australia and the US in which there is a distinct ‘downtown’ and peripheral suburbs.

Korean cities, like their counterparts in Japan and China, don’t work this way: they are vast collections of neighbourhoods with their own CBD. In Korea, each neighbourhood has its traditional markets, where apartment-dwelling locals eat and socialise in small bars and restaurants in labyrinthine laneways. Each neighbourhood has a distinctive feel, from the neon lights of West Busan to the Old Seoul laneways of Dongdaeumun market, the city beach vibes of East Busan, and the casual urban chic of Insadong (where, incidentally, 40% of all Korea’s art galleries are located). But among these bustling modern neighbourhoods are more traditional ones, such as Bukchon Hanok Village, where people continue to live in traditional houses.

This combination of atmospheres – historic and contemporary, traditional and modern, populous but neighbourly – makes Korea a fascinating destination for cultural travel. The density of its major cities, such as Seoul and Busan, and the preservation of its ancient sites, ensure that there is always something new to see, and a historic frame of reference by which to understand it.