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

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. It was part of the palace complex of ancient Silla (57 BCE – 935 CE). It was constructed by order of

King Munmu Munmu of Silla (626–681; reigned 661–681) was the 30th king of the Korean kingdom of Silla. He is usually considered to have been the first ruler of the Unified Silla period. Munmu was the son of King Muyeol and Munmyeong, who was the youn ...

in 674 CE. The pond is situated at the northeast edge of the Banwolseong palace site, in central

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

. 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 Banwolseong. 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

, 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 Silla 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 (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

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 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 Ormolu (; from French ''or moulu'', "ground/pounded gold") is the gilding technique of applying finely ground, high-carat gold–mercury (element), mercury amalgam (chemistry), amalgam to an object of bronze, and for objects finished in this way. ...

figures of Buddha, jewelry, accessories and other everyday items were discovered, offering an insight to Buddhist 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 opposed the project.

Tourist destination

Anapji is currently allotted in Inwang-dong,

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 Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond, formerly known as Anapji, is an artificial pond in Gyeongju National Park, South Korea. It was part of the palace complex of ancient Silla (57 BCE – 935 CE). It was constructed by order of King Munmu in 674 CE. ...

royal complex.

References

Daegu Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...

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

External links