Suseongdong Valley is famous through the work of the late-Joseon painter Jeong Seon, also known as Gyeomjae. Born in Seochon and a long-term resident of Ogin-dong, he painted Inwangsan and its valleys from observed scenery. The stone bridge, rocks, and ridge show that his landscape was not invented entirely from imagination.
Citizens' apartments built over the valley
During efforts to ease Seoul's housing shortage, Ogin Citizens' Apartments were constructed around the valley in the 1970s. The hillside blocks provided necessary urban housing for ordinary residents, even as they obscured natural and historic scenery. Describing development only as a mistake erases the lives of the people who lived there.
Giringyo Bridge returned after demolition
Safety problems and a landscape restoration plan led to the apartments' demolition and the valley's redevelopment. Giringyo, a stone bridge believed to appear in Jeong Seon's painting, survived and served as a reference for restoration. Today's view is not untouched Joseon nature, but the result of investigation, demolition, and landscaping.
Compare painting and present landscape in one place
There is no need to be disappointed in a dry season. Compare an image of Jeong Seon's work with the current ridge line and bridge. Suseongdong's real story is the overlap of Joseon recreation, industrial-era housing, and twenty-first-century ecological restoration.