King Sunjo Placenta Chamber, Boeun

A placenta chamber (taesil) is a place where the placenta of a royal prince or princess was placed after birth; this chamber housed the placenta of King Sunjo. The placenta had first been kept in a jar, and after Sunjo ascended the throne it was given the full array of stone furnishings befitting a king's placenta chamber, together with a commemorative stele. The chamber takes the form of an octagonal budo (a stupa-like monument enshrining the sari, or relics, of a Buddhist monk), surrounded by an octagonal stone balustrade. In front of it stands the placenta chamber stele, set on a turtle-shaped base with a capstone carved with dragons, its front inscribed "Jusang jeonha taesil" (Placenta Chamber of His Majesty the King). It was erected in 1787, the eleventh year of King Jeongjo of Joseon; from that time the mountain on which it stands was called Taebongsan (a mountain designated for enshrining a royal placenta), and Boeun, until then a hyeon, was elevated to the higher administrative status of gun. In 1927 the Japanese colonial authorities removed the placenta jar to Changgyeonggung Palace, and today only the stele and stone structures remain. The octagonal stone balustrade was dismantled and repaired in 1982.

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Where it is

Region

Boeun, Chungbuk

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산