Seolleung and Jeongneung Royal Tombs, Seoul

The subway station is named after this place, and the office towers of Teheran-ro stand at its fence. Inside are two royal tombs on a wooded hill: Seolleung, for Seongjong, the ninth king, and his second queen, and Jeongneung, for their son Jungjong, who was put on the throne in 1506 by a coup against his half-brother Yeonsangun, the dynasty's byword for a tyrant. Jungjong was not first buried here. He was moved in 1562 by his third queen, who wanted to lie beside him and had his tomb shifted to ground next to her chosen plot. The ground flooded; she was buried elsewhere; he stayed. His is the only king's tomb in Seoul with a single mound and no queen. In 1593, during the Japanese invasions, soldiers broke into both tombs, dragged out the coffins and burned them. The court could not tell afterwards whose remains it had recovered. What lies under the mounds today was reburied on a guess, and the records say so.

Original Text

Where it is

Region

Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Designation

Historic Site · 사적