Hwangudan

Korean monarchs of the Three Kingdoms and Goryeo periods have historically made sacrifices to heaven across the peninsula.[1][2][3] The practice was Confucianized with the adoption of the round altar ritual by Seongjong of Goryeo in 983.[2][3] The round altar ritual was restricted to Sons of Heaven.[2] Goryeo monarchs sacrificed to heaven until 1385,[1] even during the period of Mongol rule.[2] King Sejo of Joseon briefly restarted the rite at a location elsewhere in Seoul, but stopped the practice in the tenth year of his reign in 1464 because the rite could only be performed by the Son of Heaven, and Joseon was a tributary state to Ming.[4]

In 1897, the main coronation site of Hwangudan was constructed by around a thousand workers in ten days.[5][6] It was constructed on the site of a former reception hall that was used to entertain Chinese ambassadors.[7] It was made in preparation for the establishment of the Korean Empire, which Gojong, the monarch of Joseon, established after Qing (China) ceased to be Korea's suzerain.[8][9]

An imperial procession departing from Deoksugung (1899)

In preparation to ascend the throne, on October 11, 1897,[8] King Gojong began to perform the full sacrificial rites for the first time in centuries.[10][4] The historic Korean newspaper The Independent published the following about the occasion:[6][lower-alpha 1]

Beginning at 2:30 p.m. on the 11th, battalions of soldiers were tightly arranged on each side of the road from Gyeongunggung (Deoksugung) to Hwangudan. [...] First came the flag of the Korean Empire, and the Great Emperor followed wearing a golden dragon robe, a crown, and flying a golden kite. Behind him was the Crown Prince, wearing a red dragon robe and crown, and flying a red kite. After arriving at Hwangudan, they inspected the many-colored objects to be used for the ceremony, and returned to the palace around 4 p.m... [It rained heavily on the morning of the twelfth, but people faithfully performed their duties]. At 2 a.m. on the 12th, the Emperor arrived at the shrine again in high spirits, performed jesa to heaven, and announced his ascendency to the imperial throne.

[This day] will be remembered as the brightest and most glorious for Joseon for tens of thousands of years... From this day, Joseon becomes not only an independent country, but an independent Great Empire... Oh, to be a citizen of Joseon... Is this not a moving thought?

— The Independent, October 14, 1897

Portrait of Gojong wearing golden dragon robes

The King and Crown Prince were each carried in a golden throne by around fifty men.[7] Yun Chi-ho, a notable politician at the time, wrote a more skeptical account of the ceremony in the monthly English-language magazine The Korean Repository:[7]

The variety of military uniforms was bewildering, with the business-like uniforms of the present colonels and generals at one extreme, and the silken, effeminate dress of ancient warriors at the other. Rusty spears and swords; wooden clubs and gilded hammers; old firearms venerable for their rusty age, and modern rifles glistening with bayonets; banners with dragons and tigers painted on them in glaring colors, and musical instruments quaint in shape and strange in sound―all this was picturesque but not awe-inspiring.

In his own private diary, Yun was even harsher: "In horribly ugly dresses, the noise and confusion―all this so absolutely destitute of every element of seriousness, or of beauty or of order made me ask involuntarily, 'Has the title of Emperor been so disgraced as this ever before in the history of this world?'"[7] According to Yun, the ceremony concluded at around 5 a.m. It then began pouring rain, which soaked through the awning above the coronation site and dripped onto the Emperor. That day, preparations began for another ceremony at the shrine for the posthumous elevation of Queen Min to Empress Myeongseong.[11]

Hwanggungu, the only major building of the complex still standing (2015)

In 1899, the building Hwanggungu was created to commemorate Taejo, the founder of the Joseon dynasty.[4] Stone memorial tablets (신위판; 神位版) dedicated to the god of heaven, god of the sea, and god of the moon were said to be kept there.[12][13]

Despite the celebrations, Korea was only nominally independent; it was then quickly drifting under the influence of the Empire of Japan, which eventually formally colonized it in 1910.[8][9] The coronation site was demolished in 1913 and replaced with the Josun Railway Hotel the following year.[4] This left only the Hwanggungu standing.[8]

After the liberation of Korea in 1945, Hwanggungu was largely forgotten about, and is still relatively unknown today.[13][12] In 1960, the main gate to Hwangudan was removed to make way for a Josun Hotel construction project, and placed near another hotel in Ui-dong. It was largely forgotten about there, until it was later discovered that it once belonged to Hwangudan and moved back to its original spot in 2007.[14] Hwangudan was designated South Korea's Historic Site No. 157 on July 15, 1967.[13][12]

The site has gone by a number of other names over time, including Wongudan (원구단; 圜丘壇), Jecheondan (제천단; 祭天壇) and Wondan (원단; 圜壇). However, since 2005, the government-preferred name for the shrine has been Hwangudan.[8]

Hwangudan was repaired from 2015 to 2017.[5] Entrance into Hwangudan by tourists used to be allowed, but is now prohibited as of 2018.[5]

In 2017, a reenactment of Gojong's coronation ceremony was held on its 120th anniversary in Deoksugung and Seoul Plaza. The coronation site was recreated in a different location for the ceremony. As a symbolic gesture, civilians were invited to audition for various roles in the ceremony, and were selected to play officials, guards, palanquin bearers, and the royal family.[15]