• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.54 no.4
• /
• pp.112-131
• /
• 2021

The Gwanghwamun Gate of the Gyeongbokgung Palace was established in 1866 when Heungseon Daewongun rebuilt the Gyeongbokgung Palace. In Gwanghwamun, a large platform, woldae was established to reveal its hierarchy. The Gwanghwamun Woldae was equipped with stone railings on the left and right sides, fishing routes in the center, and stairs and slopes to the south. The Yongdu Stone was installed on the south side of the slope, which connected to the woldae, to express the path of the king in a formative manner. The Woldae King Road in Gwanghwamun was expanded in 1915 as the Joseon Promotion Conference was held at the Gyeongbokgung Palace and the woldae was destroyed around 1925. Since then, the figure has not been found since the time before the Gwanghwamun Gate. In the Donggureung royal tombs, there are many stones that are not placed in the royal tombs, including voussoir arch stones, Munsojeon Gugi-bi, as well as Nangan-Seokju, Dongja-seok, and Juk-seok, which are elements of the stone railings. These stone railings and Yongdu-seok are seen as stone objects of the Gwanghwamun Woldae, which can be found through the analysis of the style of the times and comparison with modern photographs.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.56 no.6
• /
• pp.647-659
• /
• 2023

This study is to analyze the lithological similarities between railing stones of Gwanghwamun Woldae and stone blocks stored in Donggureung Royal Tombs, Guri, to interpret the provenance of the stones, and to suggest the most suitable quarry for a new stones supply among the rocks in the Seoul-Pocheon area in order to select stones for the restoration of the Gwanghwamun Woldae. The railing stones in Donggureung are medium to coarse-grained pink biotite granite, and their lithological characteristics, magnetic susceptibility(Average 5.20 ×10^-3 SI unit), and gamma spectrometer data(K 5.00~6.38%, U 4.92~8.56 ppm, Th 27.60~36.44 ppm) show similarities with the remaining railing stones in Gwanghwamun Woldae(Average 5.38). Therefore, the railing stones in Donggureung can be reused for the restoration of Gwanghwamun Woldae. They have similar lithological and geochemical charateristics to the pink biotite granite found the Suraksan Mt. and Buramsan Mr. areas in Seoul, suggesting that these areas are the source of the stone. However, since the Suraksan Mt. and Buramsan Mt. areas are currently unavailable for quarrying, lithological and geochemical analyses on granite from the Yangju and Pocheon areas are conducted to determine the suitability of the new stone for restoration. As a result, a pink biotite granite similar to the Woldae stones was identified in the Pocheon area, and it is suggested that the stones similar in grain size and colour to the railing stones of Gwanghwamun Woldae should be selected and used for the restoration of Gwanghwamun Woldae.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.40 no.1
• /
• pp.46-55
• /
• 2019

In this study, we investigated the stone materials used in the Woldae of Kwanghwamun gate to estimate their provenances. The Woldae was partly reconstructed in 2010 using red-colored original stone and greyish new stone. We carried out geological survey in Mt. Bukhan (Bukhansan) and Mt. Surak (Suraksan) to estimate the source of stone, where red-colored granitic rocks are widely distributed. Though the petrographical features of the granitic rocks from the surveyed area are quite similar, there exists a slight variation of magnetic susceptibility and color index of the rocks: the granitic rocks from Mt. Surak have higher value of magnetic susceptibility and clearer reddish feature. A series of evidence, such as historical records, stone cutting traces and petrographical features, for the source of stone materials used in the Woldae tells that Mt. Surak would have been the provenance for the stone materials used in the Woldae. We also conducted a nondestructive test to examine the physical property of the rocks. The original stone shows low compressive strength (147 MPa) due to the weathering, whereas the rock in Mt. Surak has higher compressive strength (244 MPa) capable of being used as building materials. If there were any difficulties to use the granitic rocks in Mt. Surak, some granitic rocks that have similar petrological characteristics, such as Changsu stone and Yeongjung stone from the Pocheon area, could be used as building material instead.

• Journal of Conservation Science
• /
• v.37 no.5
• /
• pp.491-504
• /
• 2021

Gwanghwamun Gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace was dismantled and relocated during the Japanese colonial period, destroyed during the Korean War, reconstructed with reinforced concrete in 1968, and finally erected at its present location in 2010. A pair of Haechi statues located in front of Gwanghwamun was dismantled and relocated several times, and the statues have yet to be returned precisely to their original positions. This study assesses the historical accuracy of their current placement under the Gwanghwamun Square Restructuring Project of the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Cultural Heritage Administration based on archival photos from the early 1900s, and proposes a method to estimate the original positions of the Haechi through image analysis of contemporary photographs and recent digital camera photos. We estimated the original position of the Haechi before the Japanese colonial period by identifying the shooting location of the archival photo and reproducing contemporary photographs by calculating the angle and distance to the Haechi from the shooting location. The leftmost and rightmost Haechi were originally located about 9.6 m to the east and 7.4 m to the north and about 1.9 m to the west and 8.0 m to the north, respectively, of their current location indicators. As the first attempt to determine the original location of a building and its accessories using archival photos, this study launches a new scientific methodology for the restoration of cultural properties.