Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond () are a Silla-era former palace and artificial

pond A pond is a small, still, land-based body of water formed by pooling inside a depression (geology), depression, either naturally or artificiality, artificially. A pond is smaller than a lake and there are no official criteria distinguishing ...

Gyeongju Gyeongju (, ), historically known as Seorabeol (, ), is a coastal city in the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It is the second largest city by area in the province after Andong, covering with a population of ...

, South Korea. They were part of the palace complex of ancient

Silla Silla (; Old Korean: wikt:徐羅伐#Old Korean, 徐羅伐, Yale romanization of Korean, Yale: Syerapel, Revised Romanization of Korean, RR: ''Seorabeol''; International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ) was a Korean kingdom that existed between ...

(57 BCE – 935 CE). It was constructed by order of King Munmu in 674 CE. The pond was formerly known as Anapji () and is situated at the northeast edge of the Wolseong Palace, in central

. The pond is an oval shape; 200m from east to west and 180m from north to south. It contains three small islands.

History

Anapji was originally located near the palace of Silla called Banwolseong. It is written in

Samguk Sagi ''Samguk sagi'' () is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea: Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla. Completed in 1145, it is well-known in Korea as the oldest surviving chronicle of Korean history. The ''Samguk sagi'' is written in Classical ...

: "During the era of King Munmu, a new pond was made in the palace and flowers and birds flourished in this pond". There is also mention of a royal reception held by King Gyeongsun in 931, when

was already crumbling. After the fall of Silla, the pond fell into disrepair for many centuries. The name ''Anapji'' appears in the 16th century

Joseon Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...

era document '' Augmented Survey of the Geography of Korea'' () with the explanation that King Munmu made the pond with

Taoist Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...

aesthetics.

Renovation and excavation of relics

As part of the renovation project of historic sites in

, Anapji was dredged and rebuilt in 1974. The long-term excavation project from March 1975 to December 1986 released a large number of relics from the pond. Research revealed that the pond had been surrounded by stone walls, and that 5 buildings had been standing on the pond's west to south sides. Waterway systems were also detected. Almost 33,000 pieces of historic relics were excavated from the site. An abundance of unique and extraordinarily designed roof tiles, architectural materials, pottery, gilt bronze figures of

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

, jewelry, accessories and other everyday items were discovered, offering an insight to

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

art and everyday life in Silla. Gyeongju city government tried to work on restoration project once again in 2018 but it was suspended because

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

opposed the project.

Tourist destination

Anapji is currently allotted in Inwang-dong,

and is part of Gyeongju National Park. Approximately 730 relics are on display at the Anapji Exhibition Hall, the special gallery of the Gyeongju National Museum. The site of ''Imhaejeon'' is also a part of the grounds, the most important building on the property and the structure used as the crown prince's palace. While some sites have been restored others have been left in the natural form.

Gallery

File:Anapji Pond-Gyeongju-Korea-2006-02.jpg File:Anapji Pond.jpg File:Anapji, S Korea.jpg File:Anapji wall.jpg, Anap Pond facing the Banwolseong palace site File:Anapji Pond-Gyeongju-Korea-2006-07.jpg, A reconstructed pavilion at Anapji lake. File:Korea-Gyeongju-Anapji Pond-04.jpg File:Donggung Palace 01.jpg, Anapji at night File:Donggung Palace 04.jpg, Anapji at night File:Nyelloaa.jpg, Model reconstruction of the Anapji Pond royal complex.

References

Daegu Daegu (; ), formerly spelled Taegu and officially Daegu Metropolitan City (), is a city in southeastern South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; the fourth-largest List of provincial-level ci ...

MBC editing team, ''Anapji'' p4, Book Sorie, Seoul, 2004. .

External links