The tvN drama "Mr. Queen" ended in February after many controversial issues. The story is based on real-life figures such as Cheoljong and the royal family, but the distortion of history seem to be inappropriate to the viewers. Although the actors' good acting skills have calmed down many controversial issues and it ended up to be an interesting drama, it depends on the viewers to consider about the right history. In this post, we are going to find the Ganghwado Young Master - Cheoljong. We visited the Yongheunggung Palace and House for the Maternal Family of King Cheoljong, where you can find traces of Cheoljong in Ganghwado Island.
#1 Yongheunggung Palace
The first place we visited was Yongheunggung Palace, where King Cheoljong, the 25th king of the Joseon Dynasty, stayed until he was 19. Last year, this place was closed due to COVID-19, but it was opened once again to welcome the visitors.
If you want to be a little more adventurous, we recommend the Course #14 of Ganghwa Nadeul-gil (Yongheunggung Palace → Cheongha Mineral Spring → Namjangdae → Chanwoo Mineral Spring→ House for the Maternal Family of King Cheoljong). Before we start our journey, let's not forget to take the stamp at the Ganghwa Tourism Platform near Yongheunggung Palace!
At the entrance of Yongheunggung Palace, you can find a notice board that gives information about the notices and events, as well as the Ganghwa Goryeo Palace stamp tour box. Tip: prepare a small notebook for this Ganghwa trip. This is because the Nadeul-gil and Dulle-gil are well prepared so there are stamps provided at the cultural properties and attractions that you will visit. It is fun to keep various stamps as memory of your trip.
This place is rather small but when we looked at the tile-roofed house, it felt like it is nice to be living in Ganghwa. However, it was built after King Cheoljong ascended to the throne. They said that the original house was just the same as the other thatched houses. After King Cheoljong became the king, he renovated the original residence and renamed it to "palace". Yongheunggung Palace that quite small but has an antique atmosphere is separated into inner hall and annex hall.
When you walk around in Yongheunggung Palace, you will see the Ganghwa Anglican Cathedral on top of the hill. As seen in the above picture, the Ganghwa Anglican Cathedral is actually quite near, so you can just take the stairs up and tour around the cathedral as well.
Not only the exterior, but also the fireplace and well remain just like how it used to be. It allows visitors to experience the old traditional house in Korea. As mentioned earlier, the building structure with servants quarters (haengrangchae), women room (anchae) and men room (sarangchae) is like a maze. As you walk through the small door, you can feel the atmosphere of the tile-roofed house.
The spring season in Ganghwa starts a bit later than other places. When we visited this place at the end of March, the spring flowers were just blooming slowly. Yongheunggung Palace is filled with flowers such as daffodils and magnolia which was ready to bloom. If you visit this place early April to mid April, you can enjoy the Spring in full bloom at Ganghwa Island.
[Information about Yongheunggung Palace]
1. Getting there: At AREX Geomam Station, take bus #90 ▶ Get off at Ganghwa Bus Terminal, take bus #10 ▶ Get off at Ganghwa Police Station, walk 3 mins
2. Address : 16-1 Dongmunan-gil 21beon-gil, Ganghwa-eup, Gwanghwa-gun, Incheon
3. Operating hours: 9:00 – 18:00 daily
#2 House for the Maternal Family of King Cheoljong
The next attraction is the House for the Maternal Family of King Cheoljong.
This is the last stop of Ganghwado Young Master's first love road. It makes people curious here. Why did the royal family of Cheoljong came to Ganghwado Island? During King Jeongjo's 10th year reign, in year 1786, Cheoljong's family was exiled to Ganghwado Island due to a rebellion incident.
Cheoljong was the third son of Jeongye Daewongun (or known as Grand Prince Jeongye). He is also the uncle of King Heonjong. The Ganghwado Young Master's first love road is also a walking course based on the love story between the Won-beom and Bong-yi.
At the House for the Maternal Family of King Cheoljong, you can get the stamp to keep a memory on your Ganghwa trip. If you look at the picture above, the stamp that looks blur is the Yongheunggung Palace stamp, but it is sad that the ink was dried up so it was not properly stamped.
This is the house where King Cheoljong's maternal uncle, Yeom Bo-gil, lived. In 1853, on the 4th year of King Cheoljong's reign, the governor of Ganghwa, Jeong Gi-Se, ordered to reconstruct this place. When it comes to a nobleman's house, people usually think of a magnificent tile-roofed house. Therefore, the house for the Maternal Family of Cheoljong was also built according to the rules, and is characterized by its elegant and antique style.
Originally, it is a H-shaped house with women's quarters and men's quarters on the left and right, but some parts of the servants quarters were torn down, so it left in the "ㄷ" shape. In fact, it is not easy to guess what shape it used to be based on the explanation, thus you should look around the house yourself to find out more.
One interesting point is that normally at the cultural properties, it has a sign showing "Please don't climb" so you can only take a look at it, but at this place, it says "Please take off your shoes and come up". You may take off your shoes and enter both the women's quarters and men's quarters. There is a light so you can also switch it on to brighten up the room.
The highlight of this place is Numaru. When you enter the men's quarter and open the other door, you will see Numaru outside the door. The view here is breathtaking!
To prevent the spread of COVID-19, please wear a mask and follow the preventive guidelines like as keeping social distancing, following cough etiquette, etc.
[Information about the House for the Maternal Family of King Cheoljong]
1. Getting there: At AREX Geomam Station, take bus #70 ▶ Get off at Daejanggan Village, walk 7 mins
2. Address: 46-1 Cheoljongoega-gil, Seonwon-myeon, Gwanghwa-gun, Incheon
3. Contact number: +82-32-930-3627
