Taereung and Gangneung Royal Tombs, Seoul

Taereung is the tomb of Queen Munjeong, third wife of King Jungjong and mother of Myeongjong, who became king at eleven. For eight years she governed as regent and for twelve more through her brother, and she used the power to reverse the state's hostility to Buddhism: monks' examinations were restored, temples rebuilt, the monk Bou made head of the church. When she died in 1565 the reversal died with her. She had planned to lie beside her husband, and had his tomb moved to Gangnam to make it possible. That site flooded, so she was buried here instead, alone, but with the screen stones, full rails and paired figures of a king's tomb rather than a queen's. It is the largest single-mound tomb in the country, which is a fair measure of what she had been. Gangneung, a short walk east, holds her son Myeongjong and his queen. The national athletes' training centre next door took the name Taereung from these grounds; it was built on tomb land in 1966.

Original Text

Where it is

Region

Nowon-gu, Seoul

Designation

Historic Site · 사적