Tapgol Park
Small city park built around a glass-encased, ten-story stone pagoda from a fifteenth-century Buddhist temple.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Tapgol Park in Seoul opens on the first of March 1919, when a young student named Jeong Jae-yong climbed onto the park's octagonal pavilion and read Korea's declaration of independence to a crowd that had no idea what was coming. It follows word of that reading as it spread across the country within days, and turns to the ten-story stone pagoda behind glass that gave the park its name, carved around 1467 for the temple Wongaksa. The guide also revisits 1960, when citizens gathered here again during a separate uprising. Stand near the pagoda and look up before the crowds arrive.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Jogyesa Temple
Wooden Buddhist main hall and courtyard shrine that anchors the largest order of Korean Buddhism.
Deoksugung Palace
Korean Empire palace mixing a dragon-and-gold throne hall with a neoclassical European wing.
Seodaemun Prison History Hall
Preserved colonial jail with underground cells and gallows where independence activists were held.
Dongnimmun Arch (Independence Gate)
Granite triumphal arch built to mark a nation's break from tributary rule, modeled on the Arc de Triomphe.
National Museum of Korea
Vast national museum of royal treasures, ancient pottery and Buddhist art in a riverside park setting.
Gwanghwamun Square
Vast pedestrian plaza guarded by a towering bronze admiral, backdrop to Korea's largest peaceful protests.