Jeju Stone Park

In Jeju, house walls, field boundaries and the walls around graves are all built of black basalt. Jeju Stone Park gathers the life and myths of islanders who lived alongside stone into one museum and nature park. Dol hareubang statues, tomb guardians and millstones stand in long rows in a wide forest in front of a volcanic cone, so you spend more time walking outdoors than inside the galleries.

History: a park born from one man's collection

The park began with a proposal by Paek Un-chol, who had spent decades collecting Jeju stones and root sculptures. He submitted the idea to the provincial government in 1998, received approval in 1999 and construction began in 2001. The first phase, including the Jeju Stone Museum, the stone culture exhibition hall and traditional thatched houses, opened on 3 June 2006.

Work continued after that, and sources give the completion of the whole park as 2020 or February 2021. It covers about 327 ha, much of it gotjawal, Jeju's distinctive tangled forest of rocks, trees and vines.

What to see

• Dol hareubang and tomb guardians: 48 dol hareubang stand in the outdoor exhibition area. You will also see dongjaseok, child figures once placed beside graves to comfort the dead, bangsatap stone towers that kept evil away from villages, and jeongjuseok, the stone gateposts that held wooden poles instead of a gate.
• Millstones and tools: rows of millstones and stone vessels show how much of island life was made of stone.
• Jeju Stone Museum: strangely shaped volcanic rocks displayed like sculptures.
• Seolmundae Halmang and the 500 Generals: the legend of the giant grandmother who created Jeju and her five hundred sons runs through the whole park. Stone piles symbolising the 500 Generals are scattered through the forest.
• Thatched village: traditional Jeju houses with roofs tied down with rope against the wind are recreated as a small village.

Good to know

• Seolmundae Halmang Festival: held every year around May since 2007.
• Film location: scenes of the secret laboratory in the film The Witch were shot here.

Behind the park

• From Tamla Mokseokwon: from 1971 to 2009 Paek Un-chol ran Tamla Mokseokwon, a park of curious stones and tree roots that was at its most popular in the 1970s and 1980s. From 2000 much of that collection moved here.
• Myth and art: the park has also covered Jeju shamanism and mythology, including an exhibition linking Nam June Paik with Jeju shamanic culture.
• UNESCO links: in 2024 it was announced that a UNESCO-related training and research centre would be based at the park.

Nearby

• Jeju 4·3 Peace Park: about 4 km west, the memorial park and museum for the victims of 4·3.
• Jeolmul Natural Recreation Forest: a forest with woodland trails close to the Peace Park, easy to combine.

Tripto tips

• Hours and tickets: open 09:00–18:00, ticket sales end at 17:00. Adults pay KRW 5,000, teenagers, soldiers and police KRW 3,500. Children 12 and under and visitors 65 and over enter free. Parking is free.
• Closed: every Monday (or the next weekday if Monday is a public holiday), 1 January, and Seollal and Chuseok days.
• Time needed: 1.5 to 2.5 hours for the museum and the outdoor areas. Paths are wide and easy, but in summer the gotjawal forest can be buggy, so insect repellent helps.
• Guides: guided tours can be booked at least a day in advance, and free audio guides are available.