Yeonghwiwon and Sunginwon Royal Tombs, Seoul

Yeonghwiwon is the won (tomb) of Sunheon Hwanggwibi of the Eom clan, a consort of Emperor Gojong of the Korean Empire, and Sunginwon is the won of Wonson Yi Jin, the eldest son of Crown Prince Uimin, the last crown prince of the Korean Empire. Yeonghwiwon holds Sunheon Hwanggwibi of the Eom clan (1854-1911), a consort of Gojong, the first emperor of the Korean Empire, and the birth mother of Crown Prince Uimin. She was the eldest daughter of Eom Jin-sam; she entered the palace at the age of eight and became a senior court lady attending Empress Myeongseong, then in 1897 bore the crown prince (Crown Prince Yeong) and so became a consort of Gojong. In 1903, the 7th year of the Gwangmu era, she was invested as Hwanggwibi (imperial consort) and lived at Gyeongseongung. To promote modern education for women she founded Jinmyeong Girls' School and Myeongsin (later Sookmyung) Girls' School, and when Yangjeong Uisuk (now Yangjeong Middle and High School) fell into financial difficulty she donated some 2 million pyeong of land together with funds from her private treasury, playing a major part in training the talent needed to carry the nation forward. After the national humiliation of 1910, she died in 1911 at Jeukjodang Hall in Deoksugung Palace. Her spirit tablet was first enshrined at Deokan-gung Shrine, which was later moved onto the grounds of Yuksanggung Shrine. The tomb mound is furnished with stone civil officials, stone horses, a stone lantern, a spirit-offering stone and stone pillars, and below it stand a jeongjagak (a T-shaped ritual hall) and a stele pavilion. Sunginwon is the tomb of Wonson Yi Jin (1921-1922), the eldest son of Crown Prince Uimin. A wonson is the eldest son of a crown prince, heir presumptive in his own right. He was born in Japan, the first son of Crown Prince Uimin (Crown Prince Yeong) and Crown Princess Yi Bangja. The following year he briefly returned to Korea with the crown prince and princess, but died suddenly at Seokjojeon Hall in Deoksugung Palace the day before they were due to return to Japan. Emperor Sunjong, grieving his death, ordered that he be given a generous funeral, and his tomb was built on its present site. As at Yeonghwiwon, the mound is furnished with stone civil officials, stone horses, a stone lantern, a spirit-offering stone and stone pillars, with a jeongjagak and stele pavilion below; but its stonework and mound were made smaller than at other won tombs.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul

Designation

Historic Site · 사적