Hongneung and Yureung Royal Tombs, Namyangju

Hongneung is the tomb of Gojong, who ruled from 1863 to 1907 and declared himself emperor in 1897, and of Empress Myeongseong, murdered in her palace by Japanese agents in 1895 and moved here to lie beside him when he died in 1919. Yureung, beside it, holds Sunjong, the last emperor, who reigned three years under Japanese control and died in 1926, with both of his empresses under the same mound. Both tombs were laid out to the imperial rule, not the royal one. Where a Joseon king's stone officials and horses stand on the terrace by the mound, here they line a long spirit path in front of the shrine, and the menagerie has grown: camels, elephants, mythical unicorns and lions in stone, in the manner of the Ming tombs outside Beijing. The shrine itself is a broad flat-roofed hall rather than the T-shaped one. Gojong's funeral was set for 3 March 1919. Two days earlier, crowds who had gathered in Seoul for it read out a declaration of independence, and the demonstrations that followed spread across the country for months. It is remembered as the March First Movement, and it began with this burial.

Original Text

Where it is

Region

Namyangju, Gyeonggi

Designation

Historic Site · 사적