Fossil Pavilion

Located on a cliff above the Imjingang River at Yulgok-ri, this is a Joseon-style pavilion with three bays across the front and two bays to the side, featuring a hip-and-gable roof with double eaves and a cho-ikgong, a simple single-wing bracket, construction. Standing in the pavilion, one can look down directly onto the Imjingang River flowing below, and leaning on the railing, Samgaksan Mountain in Seoul and Ogwansan Mountain in Gaeseong can be seen far in the distance. It is said that the pavilion was originally built in 1443, the 25th year of King Sejong, by Yi Myeong-sin, posthumously titled Gangpyeonggong, the fifth-generation ancestor of Yi I (Yulgok); it was repaired in 1478, the ninth year of King Seongjong, by Yi I's great-grandfather Yi Ui-seok, and Yi Suk-ham, pen name Mongam, gave it the name Fossil Pavilion (Hwaseokjeong). According to records about the pavilion, its name was taken from the characters '花石' (flower and stone), which appear in a text describing Pyeongcheonjang, the villa of the Tang-dynasty chancellor Yi Deok-yu, renowned for its beautiful scenery. Yi I later repaired it again and visited whenever he had leisure time; after retiring from office he is said to have spent his remaining years here, discussing poetry and scholarship with his disciples. It is also said that the Chinese imperial envoy Huang Hongxian, captivated by Yi I's scholarship, visited the pavilion to recite poetry and enjoy the natural surroundings. The pavilion is also famous for the story that King Seonjo, who had rejected Yi I's memorial urging the training of 100,000 soldiers in preparation for a Japanese invasion, later fled toward Uiju during the Japanese invasions of Korea, and when crossing the river at night had this pavilion set alight to light the way. For more than eighty years afterward only the empty site remained, until it was restored in 1673, the 14th year of King Hyeonjong, by Yi I's great-grandsons Yi Hu-ji and Yi Hu-bang, but it was destroyed again during the Korean War in 1950. The present pavilion was rebuilt in 1966 by the Confucian scholars of Paju, Gyeonggi-do, and in 1973 it was given dancheong, traditional decorative colouring, and its surroundings were improved as part of a government project to restore the historic sites associated with Yi I and Sin Saimdang. On the front of the building hangs a signboard reading '花石亭' written by former President Park Chung-hee, and inside hangs the Palsebusi (Verses Composed at Eight), a poem said to have been written by Yi I at the pavilion at the age of eight.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Paju, Gyeonggi

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산