Hwanbyeokdang Pavilion and Surroundings, Gwangju

Hwanbyeokdang Pavilion in Gwangju was built when Kim Yun-je (pen name Sachon, 1501–1572) renovated a pavilion originally built by his father, Kim Hu. A mountain stream from Wonhyo Valley on Mudeungsan Mountain flows past the pavilion, and below the valley the Jeungamcheon Stream, lined with crape myrtle trees forming a magnificent spectacle, came to be called Jamitan, meaning "Crape Myrtle Rapids." Along the Jeungamcheon Stream stand Jodae, a fishing platform said to be the spot where Jeong Cheol (pen name Songgang) and Kim Yun-je first met, together with Yongso Pond and a pair of pine trees known as Ssangsong. Three years after Kim Seong-won (pen name Seohadang) built Sigyeongjeong Pavilion, Song Sun (pen name Myeonangjeong) wrote a poem in 1563, the eighteenth year of King Myeongjong, matching its rhyme scheme, in which he described Sigyeongjeong and Hwanbyeokdang as "brother pavilions," and named Soswaewon Garden, Sigyeongjeong Pavilion and Hwanbyeokdang Pavilion together as the three scenic spots of a single valley. Hwanbyeokdang Pavilion presents a beautiful landscape in which greenery encircles the pavilion like a round ring, and it preserves poems, verse and gasa (a form of Korean lyric verse) written by prominent scholars of its day who visited to admire the natural scenery and enjoy refined literary pursuits, giving the pavilion outstanding historical and cultural value as a centre of sarim, the community of Confucian literati scholars.

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Where it is

Region

Buk-gu, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Scenic Site · 명승