Cliffs, quarries and memories of a deposed queen

Climb the hill along the city wall north of Dongdaemun Gate and look east. On the far side of the valley, you’ll notice houses clustered around a crescent-shaped cliff. If you venture into the valley beyond it, you’ll find more of these oddly curved, stark granite cliffs jutting out of the hillsides. These are not geological formations, but remnants of a time when the hills were used as quarries.

The quarrying of granite first began during the reconstruction of Gyeongbok Palace in the 1860s and continued through the colonial period, when the stone was used in the construction of iconic buildings such as the Bank of Korea, Seoul Station and the former Government-General Building that stood on the present site of Gwanghwamun.

While at least one known temple in the area features a cave-like grotto dug into a natural cliff face, another, Beopwang Temple, has a worship space inside a tunnel bored into the hillside, almost certainly built by the Japanese during World War II.

Earlier this year, the film “The King’s Warden,” about the exile of the doomed teenage King Danjong, who was overthrown by his uncle, became the second-highest-grossing Korean film ever. Climbing the stairs near Beopwang Temple into Sungin Neighborhood Park, you’ll find several sites dedicated to the memory of Danjong’s queen, Jeongsun.

The park sits atop Dongmangbong, or Peak Looking East, a name derived from the tradition that Queen Jeongsun, reduced to commoner status after her husband’s death, stayed at a nearby Buddhist nunnery and regularly climbed the hill to gaze eastward towards Yeongwol, where Danjong had been exiled.

At the southern end of the park is a pavilion named Dongmangjeong, while further north is a small museum dedicated to the queen, as well as a shrine called Dongmanggak. The latter was originally established centuries ago to honor the local mountain spirit, but later became associated with Queen Jeongsun as well.

Further north is Cheongryong Temple, associated with Jeongeopwon, the Buddhist nunnery where the former queen is said to have retired. King Yeongjo commemorated the former nunnery with a stone marker in 1771, at the same time he had the name Dongmangbong inscribed on a nearby rock. The inscription has since disappeared, likely as a result of quarrying during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial period.

Despite the unfortunate history associated with quarrying, the cliffs offer views across the surrounding valleys and, in places, over downtown Seoul, which several cafes and viewpoints have taken advantage of.

The views from these heights provide another reason to explore the area beyond the sites associated with Queen Jeongsun, though in fact the history of her connection to Dongmangbong is not entirely settled. Recent scholarship suggests that King Yeongjo commemorated her in the wrong location, perhaps influenced by folk traditions that had already incorporated her into the veneration of the local mountain spirit. Wherever she spent the remaining decades of her life, the historical sites above the quarries preserve the memory of a queen whose life was upended by the political struggles surrounding her husband.

These sites, as well as others further to the north, will be visited on Nov. 14 during an excursion by Royal Asiatic Society (RAS) Korea. Participation costs 30,000 won, or 25,000 won for RAS Korea members. Visit raskb.com for more information.

Matt VanVolkenburg has a master’s degree in Korean studies from the University of Washington. He is the blogger behind populargusts.blogspot.kr and co-author of “Called by Another Name: A Memoir of the Gwangju Uprising.”