Uireung Royal Tomb

Uireung, in Seokgwan-dong in northern Seoul, is the tomb of King Gyeongjong, the 20th Joseon king, and his second queen, Seonui. Instead of placing the two burial mounds side by side, it sets them one above the other on the same slope – a rare arrangement. For more than 30 years from the 1960s the tomb was also off-limits, locked inside the headquarters of Korea's intelligence agency, a story you will not hear at any other royal tomb.

A short reign and two stacked mounds

Gyeongjong (1688–1724) was the son of King Sukjong and Royal Consort Hui-bin Jang, and as a boy he lived through his mother's execution. He came to the throne in 1720, spent his reign caught between rival court factions, and died just four years later, in 1724, at the age of 37. His tomb was built on Cheonjangsan hill that year, and Queen Seonui, who died in 1730 aged 26, was buried directly below him.

This layout – king and queen on one ridge, one above the other – is called dongwon-sangha-neung. According to geomancy, placing the mounds side by side would have moved them off the spot where the earth's energy is strongest. The upper mound is Gyeongjong's and the lower one the queen's; only the king's mound has the curved wall behind it.

What to look for in the stone figures

• Military officials in leopard skin: the stone generals here wear leopard skins under their armour, and on Gyeongjong's level the skin even has a curled tail.
• A tiger with its tail on its back: the stone tigers at Queen Seonui's mound carry their tails raised over their backs, unlike those at other royal tombs.
• Zodiac in writing: both mounds have only a stone railing, no screen stones, and the twelve zodiac signs are carved on it as characters rather than figures.

A royal tomb inside a spy agency

In the early 1960s the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (today's National Intelligence Service) moved here, building offices, a sports ground and an auditorium around the tomb and closing it to the public. An artificial pond was even dug between the red gate and the shrine. After the agency moved to Seocho-gu, Uireung reopened in 1996, and restoration work in 2003–2005 filled in the pond and rebuilt the stone bridge over the stream.

A reminder of that era survives in the former KCIA auditorium, now a registered heritage building. Designed by architect Na Sang-jin and built in 1962, it is where the July 4th South–North Joint Statement – the first agreement between the two Koreas since the division – was announced in 1972. Next door, the Seokgwan-dong campus of the Korea National University of Arts occupies the former agency grounds.

A quiet place for a walk

Uireung is one of the 40 Joseon royal tombs inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009. With its broad lawns and forest paths on the slopes of Cheonjangsan, it is also a quiet neighbourhood park. Spring flowers bloom on the hillside behind the tombs, and the autumn colours are lovely.

Tripto tips

• Opening hours: February–May and September–October 09:00–18:00, June–August 09:00–18:30, November–January 09:00–17:30, with last entry one hour before closing. The regular closing day is Monday; when a Monday is a public holiday the site opens and closes on the next weekday instead.
• Admission: KRW 1,000 for adults (Koreans aged 25–64, foreign visitors aged 19–64). Entry is free for foreign visitors aged 18 and under or 65 and over, and for anyone wearing hanbok.
• Close-up visits to the mounds: normally you cannot climb up to the burial mounds, but guided visits run on Saturdays at 10:00 and 14:00 (March–December) and on Sundays at 13:00 and 14:00 (March–June and September–November). Schedules can change, so check the notices of the Royal Palaces and Tombs Center.
• Time needed: 40 minutes to 1 hour for the tomb and the auditorium, about 1.5 hours with a walk on the forest path.
• Getting there: the address is 146-20 Hwarang-ro 32-gil, Seongbuk-gu. Dolgoji Station (Line 6) and Sinimun Station (Line 1) are each roughly 1 km away, an easy walk.