The Mausoleum of King Wang Kŏn, more correctly known as the Hyŏllŭng Royal Tomb, is a

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

located Haesong Village,

Kaepung County Kaep'ung County was a county in North Hwanghae Province, North Korea. Formerly part of the Kaesong urban area, the county was merged with North Hwanghae when Kaesong was demoted in 2003. The area is the site of the royal tombs of King Kongmin and ...

near

Kaesŏng Kaesong (, ) is a special city in the southern part of North Korea (formerly in North Hwanghae Province), and the capital of Korea during the Taebong kingdom and subsequent Goryeo dynasty. The city is near the Kaesong Industrial Region close t ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

. The tomb belongs to the founder of the

Goryeo Dynasty Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...

, Wang Kon, who received the temple name 'Taejo' and was the first monarch to unify the entire

Korean peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

after the subjugation the southern states of

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 of K ...

and

Baekje Baekje or Paekche (, ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BC to 660 AD. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. Baekje was founded by Onjo, the third son of Goguryeo's founder Jum ...

. Construction on the tomb began after the King's death in 943. Nonetheless, by the end of the occupation period there was little left of the original tomb, which had deteriorated due to abandonment and looting by Japanese forces. The tomb was heavily reconstructed in 1994, and all of the original buildings and statues were cleared away in order to accomplish its "restoration". The site is nominated for

World Heritage A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

status.

References

* https://web.archive.org/web/20100926163002/http://northkorea1on1.com/EImages/downloads/korn-Kaesong-Booklet.pdf * https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1423/

External link

Youtube video of Royal Tomb of King Wang Geon
{{authority control Kaesong National Treasures of North Korea Archaeological sites in North Korea World Heritage Sites in North Korea Goryeo

See also

References

External link