Jongmyo Shrine

Yesterday afternoon we braved the rain and decided to adventure outside of Sinchon. Ariane from France picked out the Jongmyo Shrine from a Seoul guidebook that we've all been looking through. Located in the city-district Jongmyo, (named after the shrines), it was only a few subway stops and one transfer away so we decided to go for it! I went with Rosie, Axel, Andreas, Samantha, Kia, Ariane, and Andrew. The Jongmyo Shrine is a historical shrine that the Confucians used to honor the deceased kings and queens of the Jonseon Dynasty.

The picture below is of the Main Hall, Jeongjeon, and it was built in the late 1300s. At the time it was considered to be the longest building in Asia. Later on, in the 15th century, the Hall of Eternal Peace was built, which we also explored. We weren't allowed to go inside of the shrines, but the property surrounding them was beautiful. We were able to see how each shrine has been expanded since the 14th century. The Main Hall was last altered in 1726 and was expanded to fifteen spirit chambers, totaling a length of 101 meters. Each "spirit chamber" serves as a house that enshrines the spirit tablet that belongs to each deceased king and queen. The spirit tablet contains the name of the deceased ruler and the Confucian people believed that the soul of the king or queen would forever be contained in their respective tablet.

Unfortunately, we arrived too late in the afternoon to catch a guided tour, but we walked all around the grounds and saw a lot on our own. Also, we stopped for a bit at a pavilion which was showing an informational movie all about the shrines. That served as a nice break from walking around in the sweltering heat and humidity. Temperatures were only in the mid 70s, but with over 80% humidity, it felt a lot hotter. The other picture is of Rosie and me on the stone platform that surrounds the Main Hall.