Mangyang Pavilion
Mangyang Pavilion (Mangyangjeong; 망양정; map; aerial view) is an resting pavilion perched on a 45-meter tall hill. It overlooks Wangpi Stream (map), Mangyang Beach (map), and the East Sea.
For 700 hundred years, Koreans have regarded Mangyang Pavilion as the most beautiful of the Eight Scenic Spots in Gwandong (Gangwon Province coast).
However, today’s pavilion isn’t the original. Historians don’t know the first pavilion’s precise location and build date. But most believe it saw its first sunrise at the end of the Goryeo Dynasty perched atop a coastal cliff.
Let’s explore its history.
Celebrity Pavilion
Since the Goryeo Dynasty, kings, poets, and painters have visited Mangyang Pavilion to view the sunrise and hanging moon over the East Sea.
During his reign, King Sukjong (1674 ~ 1720) of the Joseon Dynasty commissioned painters to paint the most majestic locations in Gangwon Province.
(Uljin County, now in North Gyeongsang Province, was in Gangwon province until the 20th century.)
King Sukjong was so impressed by Mangyang, he visited the pavilion and wrote the following poem, now inscribed in the pavilion:
- 여러 골짜기 겹겹이 구불구불 열리고
- Layers of valleys meander and twist open.
- 놀란 파도 거센 물결은 하늘에 닿아 있네
- Surprised waves. Fierce swells touch the sky.
- 지금 이 바다를 술로 만들 수 있다면
- If I could turn this sea into wine,
- 어찌 단지 삼백 잔만 마실 수 있으리오
- I could drink three hundred cups of it.
Other ancient celebrities who made pilgrimages to Mangyang Pavilion are:
- Jeong Cheol and Yi San-hae, two politicians, poets, and leaders of opposing factions around the time of the Imjin Wars (1592 ~ 1598), wrote signboards for the pavilion eight years apart. Their works hang side by side in the rafters.
- Joseon-era writers Kim Si-seup (b. 1435), Chae-soo (b. 1449), and Yi Hang-bok (b. 1556) used the pavilion as inspiration. Their works are inscribed in the pavilion.
- Painters Gim Hongdo (b. 1745), Heo Pil (b. 1709), and Jeong Seon (b. 1676), a renowned landscape artist, painted famous works of the old Mangyang Pavilion. Jeong Seon depicts Mangyang Pavilion standing tall on a sheer cliff overlooking the sea.
Name
The pavilion’s name, “Mangyang” (망양정; 望洋亭), literally translates to “a pavilion overlooking the sea.” But poet Jeong Yak-yong (b. 1762) endowed the name with deeper meaning.
He often used “Mangyangjitan” (望洋之嘆” in Hanja) to describe the pavilion. It translates to “lamenting one’s own inadequacy” or “sigh of despair.”
Why? Climb Mangyang Pavilion and look out. Feel the vastness of the sky. The sea’s disappearing horizon. The majesty of the rising moon and cosmos. Then understand the limitations of humans. A leaf afloat in the vast everything.
Repairs and Architecture
Like Wolsong, Mangyang Pavilion faced centuries of disrepair and multiple rebuilds.
- After its construction at the end of the Goryeo Dynasty (918 ~ 1392), King Seongjong moved the Mangyang Pavilion to the foot of Hyeonjong Mountain (현종산; map), 12 kilometers south.
- Uljin officials moved the pavilion to its present-day location in 1860.
- Restorers refurbished the dilapidated pavilion in 1957 and 2005, when builders completely dismantled and rebuilt it.
Today’s Mangyang Pavilion maintains the same form as the ancient pavilion.
The one story structure sits on meter-tall stone pillars (4 long and 3 wide). Benches and hand railing (계자난간) wrap around a raised floor. Wooden columns support a tiled roof and dapo-style (다포) weaved, wooden rafters above.
Complex
The 45-meter hill where Mangyang Pavilion perches features several other attractions, including hiking trails, a cafe (map), and topiary photozone.
Mangyang Pavilion Sunrise Square (망양정해맞이광장; map; aerial view) sits on the hill near the pavilion. It holds a courtyard, viewing deck, and Uljin Daejong Bell (울진대종; map). Built in 2006 and hanging inside a pavilion, officials ring this 7.5-ton bell during the local New Year’s Sunrise Festival.
The endpoint for the Uljin Cable Car (왕피천케이블카; map) sits on the other side of the 45-meter hill. Starting in Wanpi Stream Eco Park, the cable car shuttles gondolas over Wangpi Stream (Wanpicheon; 왕피천; map).
