Gumi Chaemijeong

About this place

This building is a pavilion erected in the 44th year of King Yeongjo of Joseon (1768) to commemorate the loyalty and scholarship of Gil Jae, styled Yaeun. Gil Jae passed the higher civil service examination in 1386, during the Goryeo period, and rose to the post of Munhajuseo after serving as a doctor (baksa) at the Seonggyungwan. When Goryeo fell and the Joseon dynasty was established, he declined office, saying that he could not serve two dynasties, and retired to Seonsan, keeping his integrity. The name 'Chaemi' (gathering ferns) was given by likening Gil Jae's keeping of his loyalty to the Goryeo dynasty to the old tale of the Chinese loyal subjects Bo Yi and Shu Qi, who gathered bracken ferns. Chaemijeong is a hip-and-gable-roofed house of three kan across the front and three kan on the side, located to the right after passing through Heunggimun Gate. At the rear stand side by side the Gyeongmogak, which holds King Sukjong's 'royal-brush five-character verse' honoring Gil Jae's loyalty, and the pavilion housing the memorial stele (yuheobigak).