Joseon Royal Tombs-UNESCO World Heritage Site

By Staff

Tuesday, July 7, 2009, 17:26

The royal tombs of the Joseon Kingdom in South Korea are expected to get a new designation soon! It might be declared as the UNESCO World Heritage site at the 33rd session of the World Heritage Committee now in session in Seville, Spain through June 30. The final review is due for the June 26 to 27 session.

The royal tombs of the Joseon Kingdom will become South Korea's ninth UNESCO-designated treasure, soon after this approval. The royal tombs will be succeeding key remains of the Joseon Kingdom listed as World Heritages. The other world Heritage sites in the list are Jongmyo Shrine (1995) and Changdeok Palace (1997).

The site's unique architectural and landscape forms reflecting Confucian and geomantic traditions, as well as the related funereal rituals that have been handed down from those times to the present day as a form of intangible cultural heritage are quite unique. Placed around Seoul, Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces, the Joseon royal tombs had been meticulously preserved by court officials during the kingdom's reign of 519 years. The 42 royal tombs house 27 generations of the kingdom's kings, queens, and posthumously designated rulers.

The first and foremost value of the royal tombs is their good preservation for more than five centuries. Such preservation from a single kingdom is a rare case elsewhere in the world. The tombs have unique patterns that distinguish them from neighboring nations, such as China and Japan.

Many Asian cultures were influenced by Chinese culture but the Joseon royal tombs have distinct characteristics in styles and structure, which are not found in China or Japan, although the scales of the tombs are smaller than the grandiose sites in China. The tomb sites also boast of unique landscapes surrounded by an endless series of mountain ridges for layered protection, security and tranquility.