• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.22-43
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• 2019

Mureung Valley was designed as a place of scenic beauty. It was called a utopia because of its unexplored regions. Many people traveled to this place and wrote poetry and prose describing it. It represented a culturally historic site and an example of the changing of cultural spaces. Mureung Valley was one of the nameless valleys in Duta Mountain, but "Mureunggye" was named by Kim Hyon Won, who was a governor of Samcheok.. The valley acquired a reputation for many people's visiting. It was a famous space because local residents liked the place, and famous people also loved the place. This place was adapted into a cultural place with a link to the immortal world and an educational place by people's travel stories. The place maintained a reputation until now and took center stage as a famous travel space. One of the reasons it became a place of famous scenic beauty is travel. People who travel to Mureung Valley created poetry and prose containing their excitement and travel stories. As the poetry and prose had esthetic images of Mureung Valley, people understood the place. The poetry and prose showed the meaning of the place and the changing process. These codified the reputation in the place. Mureung Valley was pointed out in one of the Cheokju-Palkyoungs. However, Mugye-Palkyoung (only for Mureung Valley) was made. It was understood as the most beautiful scenery in the place and it had the meaning of the ethics place which embodied Neo Confucianism. Mureung Valley has a great natural landscape and cultural history background. That is how this place of scenic beauty was created.