Hwangnyongwon

Character

Two modern buildings in Bomun remember the same lost Silla pagoda in opposite ways. Gyeongju Tower cuts the pagoda’s outline out of a high-rise; nearby, Hwangnyongwon’s Jungdo Tower turns the nine-storey silhouette into a 68-metre building for lodging, meetings and meditation

The shared reference is the nine-storey wooden pagoda of Hwangnyongsa, commissioned under Queen Seondeok in the seventh century and lost when the temple burned during the Mongol invasion. Jungdo Tower borrows that vertical form in the modern Bomun tourism district, away from the archaeological temple site. Its structure is steel with wooden finishes

In Bomun, that silhouette houses a different kind of institution. The ancient pagoda was a state Buddhist monument; the modern tower is used as a training and retreat center. Exhibition space, guest rooms, meditation rooms, meeting halls, a sky lounge and a Buddhist hall are stacked inside a form associated with one of Silla’s most ambitious buildings

The experience

From outside, the tower’s scale comes from repetition: nine broad rooflines rise above the lower training buildings and central garden, making the vertical mass visible across the surrounding Bomun area. The comparison with nearby Gyeongju Tower is especially clear because that building evokes the same lost pagoda through a void in its façade

Most interior access is tied to a booking. The Korea Tourism Organization lists short meditation programs and overnight courses, while the current operator also runs stays and training programs. Jungdo Tower contains guest rooms and meeting spaces, so what you can enter depends on the stay, program or event you have booked

History

The original Hwangnyongsa pagoda was built under Queen Seondeok in 646. A surviving gilt-bronze reliquary case, now held by Gyeongju National Museum, records both its construction and a major rebuilding in 872. The temple and pagoda were destroyed during the Mongol invasion in 1238, leaving the foundations as the principal archaeological trace

The modern Jungdo Tower began construction in 2011. The Jungdo Foundation developed it in Bomun as part of Hwangnyongwon, and the building was completed and opened in 2016 after five years of work. Contemporary reports described a 68-metre steel-and-wood structure with nine above-ground floors and spaces for exhibitions, lodging, meditation, education and religious use

Its arrival gave Bomun a second large-scale reinterpretation of the lost pagoda. Gyeongju Tower had already used the pagoda silhouette as negative space in 2007; Jungdo Tower followed less than a decade later with a solid, inhabitable version

Before you go

Most interior access comes through a stay, training session, event or meditation program. The Korea Tourism Organization lists short one-hour experiences and overnight courses by advance booking; accommodation uses a separate reservation system

For an architecture-focused visit, the clearest comparison is outside: Jungdo Tower stands near Gyeongju Tower, which evokes the same lost pagoda through negative space