Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond, formerly known as Anapji, is an artificial

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from ...

Gyeongju National Park Gyeongju National Park ( ko, 경주국립공원, 慶州國立公園) is located in the province of Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea, and is the country's only historical national park. It was first designated a national park in 1968. The park cove ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. It was part of the palace complex of ancient

Silla Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms ...

(57 BCE – 935 CE). It was constructed by order of King Munmu in 674 CE. The pond is situated at the northeast edge of the

Banwolseong Wolseong Palace Site, Gyeongju (慶州月城, literally “Half Moon Fortress”), also commonly known as Wolseong Palace, was the royal palace compound of the Korean Silla monarchy at their capital in Gyeongju during the Silla and Unified Silla ...

palace site, in central Gyeongju. It 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

. It is written in

Samguk Sagi ''Samguk Sagi'' (, ''History of the Three Kingdoms'') is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea: Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla. The ''Samguk Sagi'' is written in Classical Chinese, the written language of the literati of ancient Korea, ...

: "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 era document ''Augmented Survey of the Geography of Korea'' (hangul:동국여지승람, hanja:東國輿地勝覽) with the explanation that King Munmu made the pond with

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Tao ...

aesthetics.

Renovation and excavation of relics

As part of the renovation project of historic sites in Gyeongju, 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 tradition, he was born in L ...

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

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

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 is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

opposed the project.

Tourist destination

Anapji is currently allotted in Inwang-dong, Gyeongju and is part of

. Approximately 730 relics are on display at the Anapji Exhibition Hall, the special gallery of the

Gyeongju National Museum The Gyeongju National Museum is a museum in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Its holdings are largely devoted to relics of the Silla kingdom, of which Gyeongju was the capital. The museum is located immediately adjacent to the ...

. 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:AnapjiPondAtNight1.JPG, Anapji at night File:AnapjiPondAtNight2.JPG, Anapji at night File:Anapji.jpg, From the entrance File:Nyelloaa.jpg, Model reconstruction of the Anapji Pond royal complex.

References

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

External links