TAPGOL PARK OR PAGODA PARK
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Park with ten-storey stupa, a remnant of the former Won-gak-sa temple, symbol of resistance against the Japanese occupiers.
Until 1897, visitors had to walk through dark alleys and enter a private courtyard to admire the beautiful 10-storey stupa dating from 1466 (now in a glass cage), the only remnant of the former Won-gak-sa temple with the memorial stele. The temple was built in 1464 by King Sejo as an extension of the Heungboksa Temple. It was the centre of the Jogye sect until the anti-Buddhist kings Yonsangun and Jungjong destroyed it in the early 16th century. In 1897, an English employee of the Korean government developed this park, the first Western-style park in Korea. It was opened to the public in 1913, and became a symbol of resistance against the Japanese occupiers when, on March 1, 1919, 33 Korean scholars read their Declaration of Independence in the octagonal pavilion. Various monuments and statues commemorate this event, including a ceremony held every March 1. A turtle surmounted by a stele commemorates the foundation of the Won-gak-sa temple. This park is popular among the young people who come to meet there, and among the elderly who come to chat and play go or Chinese checkers. On Sunday mornings, street barbers cut hair there. It is a pity, however, that the renovation carried out by the government was totally missed: it made the place lose all its appeal, all its privacy. The elderly have thus fled en masse from the park, which used to be so peaceful and divinely restful.
