The Hidden Charms of Cheonggye Plaza
Cheonggye Plaza
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The Hidden Charms of Cheonggye Plaza
Cheonggye Plaza is a place of relaxation frequented by Korean and foreign tourists as well as those who work in the many office buildings nearby.
The first thing you’ll notice as you walk into the plaza is a tall, red and blue sculpture that looks like a conical shell. It's 'The Spring’, an artwork by two American pop artists, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.
The artists say that they were inspired by Korea’s uniquely beautiful ceramics, traditional clothes, and full moon.
If you look inside ‘The Spring’, you’ll see a trickle of water falling from the top of the sculpture to the bottom, before flowing along a curved groove that leads into the Cheonggyecheon Stream. The groove is a 1/100 scale model of the stream.
The Cheonggyecheon Stream is actually a man-made waterway. It was built around the time the Joseon Dynasty was founded to serve as a drainage system for the city. After the fall of the Joseon Dynasty and during the Japanese Occupation of Korea, the occupying Japanese government attempted to fill the stream with concrete because they thought the water was dirty. The stream was completely covered by with concrete in the 1970’s, a few decades after Korea’s independence from Japan, for the construction of Cheonggye Overpass. In 2003, the Seoul Metropolitan Government restored the stream to what you see today.
If you walk down the steps from the plaza, you’ll see a two-tier waterfall that marks the beginning of the stream. Right underneath the waterfall, you’ll notice eight thick, stone slabs, which were brought here from all over the country.
Each of the eight slabs represents one of the eight provinces of Korea before the country was divided into north and south. Today, they represent a hope for unification. All the slabs are made of rock indigenous to the particular provinces they represent, except for those that represent provinces in North Korea.
Stonemasons did their best to find the slabs of stone that best resemble the ones in North Korea. There is no doubt that most people who understand the significance of these rocks wish that someday, the existing slabs will be replaced by the genuine article from North Korea after unification.
The rocks are collectively known as ‘Palseokdam’, which simply means ‘A Pond of Eight Rocks’ in Korean. A few meters down from these rocks, you’ll come across a saucer-shaped granite sculpture with a hole in the middle. It serves as a wishing well into which to toss coins. Throw a coin into the hole to make a wish. It doesn’t matter if you fail; all the coins collected are donated to the needy.
A festival is held each season at Cheonggye Plaza. It is a great place to visit if you would like to learn about the history of Korea and the experience is unique.