Gwangtonggyo Bridge

You're next to Gwangtonggyo, the most important bridge in Joseon-era Seoul. Royal processions and foreign envoys crossed it, and around it lay the capital's busiest market. But its stones hold a tale of family hatred.

1The queen and the prince

The dynasty's founder, Taejo, had two wives. With the second, Queen Sindeok, he wanted one of her sons to be heir. This enraged Yi Bang-won, a son of the first wife, who in 1398 killed his half-brothers and eventually became King Taejong.

Sindeok had died in 1396, and Taejo, who adored her, built her a splendid tomb, Jeongneung, inside the city, in the neighbourhood still called Jeong-dong. Once Taejo was dead, in 1409 Taejong moved it outside the walls. The next year, a flood swept away the old earthen bridge at Gwangtonggyo, and the new stone bridge was built with slabs from the former tomb.

It is said that Taejong did this so the whole city would tread every day on the tomb of the queen he hated.

The use of the Jeongneung stones is documented; the king's exact intention is a traditional interpretation, though a widespread one.

2Buried and recovered

In the 1950s the stream was covered with concrete and an elevated highway. When the Cheonggyecheon was restored in 2005, the bridge was reassembled with its original stones, a short distance from its original site.

3What to look for

• The slabs carved with clouds in the abutments.
• The upside-down stones, their reliefs facing the wrong way.
• The guardian figures with joined hands, taken from the tomb.