Namsan Park
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The original name of Namsan was Mt Ingyoung. In 1394, when the first king of the Chosun Dynasty , Lee Seong-gae, moved the capital from Gaeseong to Seoul, the name was changed to Namsan because is located in the South and 'Nam' is Korean for 'South'.
According to the theory of division based on topography, Namsan is important because it is 'ansan'-hdy mountain which means a mountain on the opposite side of a housing site or a grave. Shrines for the mountain god were set for national peace sacrificial rites at Mt Bukak & Namsan, and the shrine of Namsan, dedicated to the mountain god Mokmyuk, was called Mokmyuk shrine or 'Gooksadang', which means national sanctuary. From that time, Mt Ingyoung has been called Mt Mokmyuk. 'Gooksadang' used to be at the peak of Namsan, where Palgak plaza is now.
'Gooksadang' was destroyed by Japan under their rule in 1925, and they built 'Chosun Sinjeong ' where the botanical garden now is. Japan forced Koreans to worship there. Gooksadang was rebuilt at the western foot of Mt Inwang.
Namsan was used as a Japanese garrison and was called 'waejangta'.
The Japanese used Namsan in 1897 to build a road and planted 60 cherry-blossoms, naming the area. "Waeseong Grand Park." The next year they built 'Daeseongoong' which was Japanese shrine where Seongi, institute now is.
During the Japanese colonial period, Namsan was designated as 'Namsan road park' by Regency-General Notice No.118 on Mar, 12th, 1940. It is the origin of 'Namsan Park' today. After Korea's restoration of Independence North Koreans, both before and after the Korean War, came down to South Korea and made their homes in the Namsan area. For that reason, the area used to be called 'haebangchon'-freedom town.
The Seoul metropolitan government undertook an 8-year project, 'Namsan Renaissance', from 1991 to 1998. This project aimed to restore the park's natural scenery by moving the buildings which had ruined the scenery, and improve the area's function as a public park by complementing and better maintaining park facilities. 21 goverment buildings, 52 foreigner's residences and 16 private houses were demolished by the project. A botanical garden was constructed on the former housing sites and many other areas around Namsan were developed to become part of the park.
At 3pm, Nov, 30th, 1994, the Namsan Joogong apartments which consisted of 2 buildings were destroyed by explosion. Since this was the first intentional destruction by explosion of a building in Korea since the war, a large crowd of people came to see the spectacle.
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