GANGHWA COUNTY

Gareung is the tomb of Empress Dowager Sungyeong of the Kim clan (順敬太后 金氏), consort of King Wonjong, the 24th ruler of Goryeo. She was the daughter of Kim Yak-seon, who was the son-in-law of Choe U, a military ruler of the Choe clan. When Wonjong became crown prince in 1235, the 22nd year of the reign of King Gojong, she was appointed crown princess with the title Gyeongmok-hyeonbi. She gave birth to King Chungnyeol the following year and died shortly thereafter. In 1262, the third year of King Wonjong’s reign, she was posthumously honored as Queen Jeongsun, and after her son King Chungnyeol ascended the throne in 1274, she was elevated to Empress Dowager Sungyeong. Unlike the other royal tombs in Ganghwa, Gareung is distinguished by its above-ground stone burial chamber. A glass wall has been installed across the front of the chamber, allowing visitors to view the interior. Royal burial mounds generally have a curved enclosure behind them, formed either by a crescent-shaped earthen embankment (土城) or a stone wall, but Gareung has neither a saseong earthen enclosure (莎城) nor a curved wall (曲墻). Instead, its burial mound was constructed on gently sloping ground. The three tiers of platforms built of long rectangular stones indicate that the burial precinct followed the form of a Goryeo-period royal tomb. After the site had fallen into ruin, with the burial mound collapsed and its stone structures damaged, it was repaired in 1974. It was excavated by the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage in 2004 and subsequently restored to its present appearance. Today, only a pair of stone animal figures remains around the burial mound, along with a pair of stone human figures in front. As the other stone structures have been damaged or lost, the tomb’s original appearance can no longer be determined.