When travelling to Gyeongju, Korea, a visit to Wolji pond in the evening is a must. Gyeongju itself is one of the historical capitals of Korea and there is a ton of stuff to see in this city which is about 2 hours south of Seoul on the bullet train.
I'm sure some of you know I love ponds. Well, this is probably the most beautiful pond to visit in the evening I have ever seen!
Wolji pond is the name of the water feature in the garden of the ruins of Donggung Palace. It is quite the water feature indeed at around 200m by 180m across. The pond is said to resemble the sea because its shape makes it impossible to see the entire pond from any point on the ground.
The pond and the palace were originally built by King Munmu of Silla around 674. The palace is an is said to be where the princes of the Silla dynasty lived. Donggung palace was actually an annex to the much larger Banwolseong palace which was huge.
The Silla Dynasty was founded in Korea around 54BCE, and it was one of the 3 kingdoms of ancient Korea located in the southeast part of the Korean peninsula. From around 668CE, Silla controlled the entire Korean peninsula which happened during the reign of King Munmu. The unified Silla period lasted until 935CE when Silla was conquered by Goryeo, the first true Korean state.
Today Wolji Pond and Dongung Palace are in ruins. The ruins of the palace today consist of a few stone foundations on the southwest end of the pond with 3 pavilions, in particular, standing out. The pond itself was dredged and restored during the 1970s and 1980s. And a second modern archaeological dig began in 2007. Finding archaeological digs throughout Gyeongju is not uncommon.
When the Silla dynasty was destroyed by the Goryeo dynasty, the places and gardens fell into disrepair since this region was no longer the capital, which was much further to the north and closer to China. The pond too was no longer used as a garden (I think it was a duck farm).
During the Goryeo dynasty and later Joseon dynasty, the pond was actually called Anapji. This name was only changed in the 1980s when a clay tablet was dredged from the pond which said its real name - wolji. Wolji means something like the reflection of the moon. Although I didn't visit on a clear or calm night, I can imagine the reflection of the full moon would be quite stunning.
Trees without their leaves look so eerie in the dark, especially when well lit up. Actually, since I visited in early February, only the hardiest bushes were in blossom and of course, some plants never lose their leaves, especially during the particularly mild winter we had.
The bamboo was my favourite. It looks absolutely stunning in the night. I tried my best to get a shot where the ground isn't visible as I think the effect is very neat. The lights shining from the ground up made this easy. I wouldn't want to go in there at night and risk being eaten up by hungry panda bears.
The reflections on the pond are what makes this place so popular to visit at night. Combined with masterful modern lighting all over the place, it is the perfect location to practice night photography. In fact, I hardly did any post-editing in most of these photos asides from the usual cropping and straightening.
One thing I couldn't help to notice is how these pavilions and stone walls look like they are straight out of the later Joseon dynasty. I'm not sure exactly what Silla Era architecture looked like, but I have my doubts that it was this similar to Joseon palace design. I think the people who restored this place just had to go with something. They did an excellent job and I have a felling it will become better as time passes.
I wish I could visit here when it is not crowded so I could get a true feeling of how peaceful it must have been here in ancient times, looking out over the pond from the palace. However, the pavilions one could enter were so crowded, I didn't bother. I probably should have visited the next night when it was much colder and on a Sunday. The crowds would have been thinner.
Being a little windy, and quite large, the reflection of the pavilions were not perfect. The longer exposures at night combined with the rippling surface make a clear shot very difficult to get. The bright lights in certain areas only add to the challenge.
I did find a few places where the water was much calmer to take good shots. Since the sky was overcast and the pond has a dark bottom, it can make almost a perfect mirror image. I wonder if, in ancient times, it was good enough to reflect the starts along with the moon? That would have been a sight to see. I do know liquid telescopes exist, so I don't see why not?
Today the shores of Anapji pond are a crowded place. I went with a short exposure here to block out the crowds of people trying to get the 'perfect shot' of all 3 pavilions.
Having been conquered a long time ago, the Silla dynasty only lives on in the history books. The capital city of the dynasty is what makes Gyeongju, at that time called Seorabeol, such a fascinating place to visit. It's a hive of archeological sites. Wolji Pond being only one of them.
With all these beautiful views to be had in one place, you can bet this place is absolutely crowded. It is a complete zoo and there is no way to avoid it. Everyone in Korea visits Gyeongju a few times in their lives and this pond is no exception. It's a giant line up around the whole thing and I had to struggle to avoid crowds of people in my shots, but I think it turned out alright.
King Munmu, who constructed this pond was a very powerful kind during the Silla dynasty. The most ironic part is he was always at war and I guess this was his escape from the reality of ruling. Eventually, he is said to have wanted to be buried at sea which is an odd request for Korean kings. Maybe this is why he build a pond that resembles the sea?
Munmu was the king who first unified the Korean peninsula. Oddly there are only two great Korean kings, but he isn't one of them even though he managed to achieve the dream of unification which is not even achieved in present times. Without him perhaps the concept of a unified Korea would not even exist.
Sources & More info
https://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=264367
https://www.gyeongju.go.kr/open_content/eng/page.do?mnu_uid=1371&parm_bod_uid=147831&step=258
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donggung_Palace_and_Wolji_Pond
https://peakd.com/korea/@engchitchat/anapji-pond-gyeongju-south-korea