Gwanryongsa Temple and Hamheojeong Area Designated as Scenic Site

"Outstanding Historical and Cultural Value"

'Changnyeong Gwallyongsan Gwallyongsa Area' and 'Gokseong Hamheojeong Area' will be designated as nationally recognized scenic sites. The Cultural Heritage Administration announced on the 10th that it will finalize the designation after collecting opinions from various sectors for a month and undergoing a review by the Cultural Heritage Committee.

The Changnyeong Gwallyongsan Gwallyongsa Area boasts a beautiful landscape where the ancient Silla temple Gwallyongsa and the mountain ridges with bizarre rock formations spread like a folding screen harmonize. It has high humanities value due to many Buddhist cultural heritages of Gwallyongsa and the Yongseondae (Dragon Boat Platform), a Buddha statue resembling the "Prajna Dragon Boat" (a dragon-led boat heading toward the Prajna world).

The Gokseong Hamheojeong Area is a pavilion built by Joseon mid-period scholar Jehojeong Sim Gwanghyeong (1510?1550) on the hills around the Seomjin River. According to feng shui, it is shaped like a turtle entering the Dragon Palace. Hamheojeong is situated on the turtle’s back. Below the cliff, there is a deep pool called Yongso and Hajungam Island Rock, known as Guamjodae (a rock formation floating like an island in the river). Sim Mingak (1589?1643), the great-grandson of Sim Gwanghyeong, relocated the dilapidated pavilion to its current location and renamed it 'Hoyeonjeong (Vast Pavilion).' However, after several restorations, it began to be called by its original name again.

The Cultural Heritage Administration stated, "It is adjacent to the 'Gokseong Jehojeong Old House,'" adding, "The pavilion’s construction records, traces of exchanges among literati, and inscriptions and poems praising the surrounding scenery have been passed down, highlighting its outstanding historical and cultural value."