• Journal of architectural history
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.57-70
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• 2022

The Joseon royal family considered the act of burying the placenta very important for various reasons. Accordingly, they developed their own ritual culture of burying the placenta based on the geomancy(Pungsu). In 1661, The King Sukjong's placenta chamber was built in Gong-ju, and later stone objects were added in 1683. Since its establishment, the King Sukjong's placenta chamer have been continuously managed by the Joseon royal family, but During the Japanese colonial period, the placenta chamber was partially destroyed, and now only some stone objects remain in the original site. This study aims to estimate the original style and structure of King Sukjong's placenta chamber by focusing on the stone objects which were discovered through recent field surveys. In addition to that, the stylistic review of Joseon Dynasty's royal placenta chamber was conducted to secure a literary data basis and acquired data were comprehensively analyzed. As a result, Some of the original style and structure of King Sukjong's placenta chamber could be confirmed. The results of this study are expected to help restore the authenticity of the royal placenta chamber damaged in japanese colonial period, and are expected to be a good example in the research methodology of historical evidence of other damaged royal placenta chambers.