Seongnyugul Cave, Uljin

Seongnyugul Cave, Uljin is located near the Buryeongsa valley and is about 915m long, including its underwater sections. The cave is formed of limestone and its colours range through pale pink, greyish-white and white. Inside are nine open chambers and three pools of water 4-5m deep, and the cave is evenly filled with a variety of formations, including icicle-like stalactites hanging from the ceiling, stalagmites rising from the floor, and stone pillars formed where stalactites and stalagmites have met. The cave was originally called Seonyugul, meaning "the cave where immortals once played at leisure", but when Crown Prince Bocheon, son of King Sinmun, the thirty-first king of Silla, built a temple inside the cave for religious practice, it came to be called Seongnyusa because a sage was said to have stayed there, and the cave itself was named Seongnyugul, meaning roughly "the cave where a sage stayed", because of a small hole in its rock wall. It is also said that during the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592-1598), about 500 local residents took refuge inside the cave, but Japanese soldiers blocked the entrance and all of them starved to death. In Seongnyugul Cave in Uljin one can see a splendid and varied range of formations typical of limestone caves - stalactites, stalagmites and stone pillars - as magnificent as an underground palace.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Uljin, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Natural Monument · 천연기념물