Gyeongju Jaemanjeong Well

About this place

Gyeongju Jaemanjeong is a well that stood in the home of the great Silla general Kim Yusin, constructed by stacking granite blocks in the manner of bricks. The surrounding area is believed to have been his residence. A celebrated legend tells that Kim Yusin, returning from a long campaign only to depart again for the front, passed his own home without going in to see his family. Instead he had water drawn from the well, drank it on horseback, and declared 'The taste of my home's water is just as I remembered it,' before riding away. Excavations in 1993 covered a 70-metre radius around the well. It is 5.7 m deep, with a maximum width of 1.8 m and a bottom diameter of 1.2 m, constructed from dressed stone blocks. Beside the well stands a memorial pavilion containing a stele inscribed by Yi Manun in the 9th year of King Gojong of Joseon (1872).