My new quest is to see all of the Joseon Dynasty tombs that are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Collection. All the royal Joseon Dynasty tombs. The Cultural Heritage Administration’s website will (hopefully) provide enough information. If not, there’s always Wikipedia. Overall, there are 18 tomb clusters and 40 능 (neung) type tombs, some of which are closed to the public.

There are two more in North Korea, but according to my research they’re not part of the UNESCO World Heritage collection. Phew, but that still leaves seventeen clusters scattered across Gyeonggi-do (there’s one in Gangwon-do). I’ve been to some of them already, trying to find the differences in them and gain an appreciation for the centuries-long dynasty.

While each destination will merit its own post, let this post serve as a summary of where things currently stand.

As of 7 January 2011:

Tomb cluster name	Where?	Visited?
Donggureung Tomb Cluster (동구릉)	Guri	Yes – see the post
Gwangneung (광릉)	Namyangju	Yes – see the post
Heolleung and Illeung (헐릉&인릉)	Seoul	Not yet…
Hongneung and Yureung (홍릉&유릉)	Namyangju	Not yet…
Jangneung (Gimpo) (김포 장릉)	Gimpo	Not yet…
Jangneung (Paju) (파주 장릉)	Paju	Not yet…
Jangneung (Yeongwol) (영월 장릉)	Yeongwol, Gangwon-do	Yes – see the post
Jeongneung (정릉)	Seoul	Not yet…
Olleung (온릉)	Yangju	Not yet…
Paju Samneung Cluster (파주 삼릉)	Paju	Not yet…
Sareung (사릉)	Namyangju	Not yet…
Seolleung and Jeongneung (선릉&정릉)	Seoul	Yes – see the post
Seo-oreung Cluster (서오릉)	Goyang	Not yet…
Seosamneung Cluster (서삼릉)	Goyang	Not yet…
Taereung and Gangneung (태릉&강릉)	Seoul	Yes – see the post
Uireung (의릉)	Seoul	Yes – see the post
Yeongneung and Nyeongneung (영릉&영릉)	Yeoju	Yes – see the post
Yungneung and Geolleung (융릉&건릉)	Hwaseong	Yes – see the post

© Chris Backe – 2011

This post was originally published on my blog,Chris in South Korea. If you are reading this on another website and there is no linkback or credit given, you are reading an UNAUTHORIZED FEED.