Main Gate of Imyeonggwan Guesthouse, Gangneung

The main gate of the Gangneung guesthouse, built in the Goryeo period. The guesthouse itself has gone and only this gate remains. A guesthouse of this kind was part of the local government office under Goryeo and Joseon. A wooden tablet standing for the king was kept in it, and on the first and fifteenth of each month the local officials bowed towards the palace before it; envoys and officials sent from the capital also lodged there. This one was built in 936, the nineteenth year of King Taejo of Goryeo, with eighty-three bays in all, and named Imyeonggwan — the name board on the gatehouse is said to have been written by King Gongmin himself. It was repaired several times, and under Japanese rule it was used as a school. After the school was pulled down a police station was built on the site in 1967, and today only the gate stands in the yard. Three pavilions elsewhere in the city — Oseongjeong on Namsan, Wolhwajeong at Geumsan and Banghaejeong at Gyeongpo — were built from parts taken from the guesthouse. The gate is three bays wide and two deep, under a gabled roof that takes the shape of the character for person when seen from the side. The brackets carrying the eaves sit only on the columns, in the plain column-head style. Large plank doors hang in all three bays, and the columns swell at the middle in the entasis manner. It is simple and unadorned, but the refinement of the carving in its details is characteristic of Goryeo building.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gangneung, Gangwon

Designation

National Treasure · 국보