| Gyeongju
Kim Ancestral House (19th century onward) other
sites in Gyeongsangdo |
Yeongcheon, Korea |
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Site plan of Cheong Yong-jun house.
Click on an arrow for a specific view:
Plan copyright 2002-2003 ATA
Laboratory, Daejeon, Korea. Measured and drawn in August, 2002 by
the ATA team (including Tim Ciccone).
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This is the head house of
one of the collateral clans of the Gyeongju Kim, one of the most important
clans in the country with putative ties back to the days of the ancient
Silla Kingdom.
The original house is said to have been built sometime during the reign of King Jungjong (1506-44) by a government minister of the Gyeongju Kim. The house was destroyed by bandits in the early 19th century and rebuilt thereafter. The long, narrow estate is situated on an east-facing hill so that the entire complex receives light almost as soon as the sun rises. This is important since it means the rays of the sun reach into the private domain of the ancestral hall, located at the rear of the house. There is also a shrine called a 'sindobi' that memorializes Kim Yeon (1552-92), an ancestor who died for the kingdom during the Japanese invasions of 1592-1598. The current occupant (as of August 2002) is the eldest daughter-in-law of Gyeongju Kim family. She expressed her own desire to one day be enshrined alongside her ancestors in the memorial hall in the rear. (The house is designated Gyeongsangbuk-do Cultural Properties Materials #373) Left: Site plan of the estate Bibliography: All images copyright 2003 Tim Ciccone. Photographed in August, 2002. http://arch.hannam.ac.kr/~hpw/title.htm Cultural Properties Administration. ATA Laboratory, Daejeon, Korea. |