If I am going to be completely honest with you, I never enjoyed going to museums very much when I was younger. For me, they were mostly a fixture or a building housing rare stuff that has some historical or cultural importance, and that my only reason to visit them was because I need the credits at school. I blame that noncommittal attitude towards museums to the fact that, well, there weren’t much fun to be had at the museums around me. They all practically looked the same, so how was I supposed to get excited over a visit to one? But visits to South Korea (and Japan) changed that.
You see, these two countries seem to have a museum for practically anything and everything. It’s like, “ok, what do we have in abundance? Grass? Let’s make a park and a museum about it!” Then they make it happen.
Just like the Jeju Stone Park. If you told me I’m going to be spending a good hour or so going around a place about… well, stone, then I’d probably have laughed at the very idea myself.
So the Jeju Stone Park was not in my radar at all when we were checking out where to visit. It’s just the Mr. Bruce suggested it, and it was conveniently in our route, so why don’t we drop by? He seemed enthused about it, then he also pointed out that one other reason is that we’d get to spend time indoors (meaning, AWAY from the sun).
Normally, I’d have nixed the idea if the selling point was a museum, but it was also a park, so that kinda piqued my curiosity a bit.
Entering the Jeju Stone Park
Admission to the Jeju Stone Park is 5,000 KRW for adults. That’s roughly USD4.65 or Php 250.00. There are different rates for students and senior citizens.
There was a wide parking lot, which was a short walk to the Ticket Booth, where we secured our admission passes and a brief flyer.
Look at the sky, it was such a beautiful clear day. Despite the scorching heat of the sun.
ANYWAY. The moment we passed through the rustic gate and followed a shaded stone path, then “surfaced” to this wide open green flat area, I thought, “Boy, this place is huge!” Like, I could look far, and still not see a trace of any of the buildings outside.
It was only in later readings that I learned that the Jeju Stone Park has an area of 969,731 square meters. That’s close to a square kilometer.
The entire Park was designed to display the mythology of Jeju – its creation and the magic that seem to engulf it even to this day. There was an area that resembled a traditional Jeju village, complete with stone houses built with thatched roofs, but we only briefly passed by them when we were already leaving the place. You’d see an example of such a structure in the photo above, just before we entered the Park.
Apparently, there are 3 courses that you could take. You’d have to spend close to 3 hours to walk all three. We did not settle for a particular one, because I think we started on one course, then just veered halfway until we ended our tour.
While walking, you could stop to look around you and see… stones. Artfully displayed, strategically positioned, or seemingly haphazardly strewn to the side. Then you’d do a double-take and wonder if it was, indeed, carelessly left there, or was it actually intentionally placed there like that.
Jeju mythology focuses on how the island was created by its great grandmother, Seolmundae Halmang, or “Grandma Seolmundae”. She also happened to have 500 sons, and they are revered as the “Five Hundred Generals”.
There were natural stones lined up on one area, and they noticeably resembled human heads. This tableau was referred to at the Park as the “Five Hundred General Statues”.
So, according to the myth, during a time of drought, Grandma Seolmundae was left behind at their home while her 500 sons went off to search for food. While cooking soup, Grandma Seolmundae slipped, fell into the large pot, and drowned. The hungry sons came home, saw the soup, and devoured it, not knowing that it contained their mother.
That night, the youngest of the 500 sons came home, saw a bone in the pot, and realized it was their mother. He denounced his brothers who ate the soup (with their mother in it) and, in his despair, he ran to the distant Chagwi Island, where he turned into a rock. The other brothers were left in their grief, lamenting their mother’s death, until they also all turned to rocks.
This spot at the Jeju Stone Park was a recreation of that myth.
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These, right here, are millstones, or malbangae, which were used by Jeju ancestors for milling grains of threshed barley and millet. All farming villages used these stone implements, at least until electricity came and motorized mills were introduced.
These look sturdy, though.
Each of these statues is a dongjasok.
Basically, a dongjasok is a “child tombstone”. Each tombstone is usually less than one meter in height, and two are often placed before a tomb, one on each side, as if waiting for the body of the dead child to be interred there.
These statues have no lower limbs, that’s because it’s only the upper half of the body. There is no fixed “design”, because depending on the bereaved, they could have it carved to hold any item to its chest, like a flower, a fan, a candlestick, etc. It depends on what they think represents the dead child.
Check out these statues, a recreation of the well-loved Jeju figure, the dol hareubang. Practically everywhere in Jeju you will find the representation of this figure in various sizes (and kinds, especially when you go to souvenir shops).
Dol hareubang means “stone grandfather”, and they are looked up to as gods offering protection as well as fertility. That’s why you’d see them often in gates and entryways of buildings and businesses. Supposedly, they have the power to provide protection from demons.
A typical dol hareubang can reach up to 3 meters high. Just look at the scale of the dol hareubangs in this line.
To The Jeju Stone Museum
We saw only around 2 other groups walking around, and were heading somewhere. It turns out they were also headed where we were: to somewhere cool and shaded, haha!
We followed the trail and signs that led to the Jeju Stone Museum.
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Interestingly enough, you are looking at the roof of the Jeju Stone Museum. Nope, not the green one.
That green mountain is not a mountain, but an oreum, or a volcanic mound (a hill-like structure formed from volcanic activity in the island). So yes, it would be wrong to say that all you see around you in Jeju are mountains or hills, because many of them are actually oreums or volcanic mounds.
As I was saying, that flat area is the roof of the Jeju Stone Museum, because you’d walk around to the side, down a flight of wide stone steps, then enter the museum, which is built under the surface of the ground. Pretty cool. eh?
But on the rooftop of the Jeju Stone Park is the “Sky Pond”.
The Sky Pond symbolizes the cauldron or wide pot that Grandma Seolmundae fell into. Well, even Jeju lore makers seem to have different takes on what happened in the legend. Others say she fell into the cauldron accidentally. Others say she intentionally threw herself into it, making the ultimate sacrifice so she can feed her 500 sons.
Anyhow, it has become a symbol of motherly love and the strength and weakness of a mother who loves her children. Accordingly, this Sky Pond is used as a stage for water plays and similar shows. I can definitely imagine how pretty it’d look like at night, all lit up and colorful.
Inside The Jeju Stone Museum
The moment we entered the dim and cool Jeju Stone Museum underneath the Sky Pond, I was like, “AHHHHH BLESSED COOLNESS.”
I have to say, anyone wanting to have a crash course on rocks and stones should definitely come here. Because it contains all the things that you’d usually encounter in those science subjects, but better, because there are samples and more realistic photos.
I think, however, that the main purpose of this Museum is to show how Jeju was formed. This time, with no mythology involved, but pure science.
Interesting bits were how the historical side of these rocks were also presented, like a complete montage on the Tectonic Evolution of the Korean Peninsula, where you’d see how movements of the earth’s core formed the country.
“Volcanic bombs” were a new thing for me, haha! Basically, a volcanic bomb is a mass of molten rock, usually larger than 64mm in diameter, that is formed when a volcano ejects viscous fragments of lava during an eruption.
I couldn’t help but be amused at some of the names of the volcanic bombs, thanks to their shapes. Like this “Breadcrust Bomb”, and the “Cow-dung Bomb” after it.
These are “lava balls” which, I think, are like bigger versions of volcanic bombs. They are also ejected from the volcano during an eruption, to roll down and cause damage.
For a more immersive learning experience, many sections of the museum also have screens that play what looked like documentaries on various topics involving rocks, stones, and volcanic activities. If you’re not careful, you’d be caught up standing in front of one screen, simply watching it as if entranced with a movie.
And yes, some are in English, and those that aren’t have English subtitles and captions, so it’s definitely tourist-friendly.
I kept thinking, if we had something like this back when I was in grade school or secondary school, I’d probably have developed a greater appreciation for rocks and stones. Oh well.
This is only around two feet tall, placed behind a glass, and doesn’t it remind you of something you’d see in Mordor? *geekmode ON*
Art Among Stones
After leaving the Jeju Stone Museum, we swung by a souvenir store selling all sorts of knick-knacks related to the place and what it holds. We weren’t really in a mind-set to buy anything, plus they weren’t exactly cheap, so we contented ourselves with just looking around.
So we followed another walking path to the Obaek Jang-goon Gallery, which is described as a multi-purpose space for artists to showcase their work. At that time, there was an exhibition entitled “Beautiful Interlinkage – Visuality”.
Art lovers would definitely enjoy going through each art work. I’m not well-versed in art, but it was quite an interesting and pleasurable viewing experience.
Surprisingly, we spent almost 2 hours at the Jeju Stone Park, and we didn’t really notice how time flew so quickly. We just went back to our ride and realized how long we’ve stayed there.
More surprisingly, however, was how I actually enjoyed it. Who knew? I sure didn’t.
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