The Lady in Red is both an artist and a lover of sculptures. Thus while in town to see Bigeumdo off the coast of Mokpo, we made it a point to search for this place.

Welcome to 조각공원 (Jo-gak-gong-won) - or Yudalsan International Sculpture Park if you prefer the English translation. Don't let the 'International' in the name fool you, though - only six of the park's dozens of sculptures are from non-Koreans. Originally opened in November 1982, this was the first outdoor park for sculptures in Korea. The 48,000 square-meter park originally displayed sculptures leased from the Korea Sculpture Park Society. When the lease expired, however, the sculptures were removed. In August 2008, the park reopened with a new set of sculptures representing the theme Nature, Culture, and Sculpture. It's a nice variety of art, from completely abstract to some with a more understandable meaning.



Entitled 'Meditation - Raising Island' by Kim Hyung Joon. The meaning doesn't make a lot of sense to me - "The dynamic bust inside shaped with a small triangular shaped island spreads the image of a remote island representing the perseverance of a thinking energy." Sometimes, the point of enjoying art is not to bother with the artist's interpretation, but to create one for yourself.



Entitled "The Melody of Nature" by Han Jung-Kwang. Originally made in 1994 - picture a horizon, a sunset, and a lighthouse.



Entitled 'The Sea - Waves' by Baek Seung Eob. Yes, that is a surfing man you see - he's there to help you imagine the 'landscape of the sea'.



Entitled 'Dance of the Time' by Choi In-Su - I really enjoyed the three-dimensional appearance.



Entitled 'Infinity' by Lee Sang-Kap - looks a bit more like brushstrokes to me. It's supposed to show how "the image of Cosmos and Chaos is embedded at the same time".



Climbing up the zig-zag hill some more led us to 'Conversation' by Hong Soon-Mo. Notice the Mokpo city-scape in the background.



Not a sculpture, but a reminder of the beauty around the area.

Entitled 'The Forest of Paradise' by Shin Hyun-Jung - "by shaping...mammals that have devoted their life to human beings, this work tries to arouse indirectly and nature - amiably the aspiration and experience of nature".

It's a nice area if you appreciate quiet areas or sculptures - not worth a trip to Mokpo, but worth seeing while you're in the area.

Ratings (out of 5 taeguks):
Ease to arrive:

Foreigner-friendly:

Convenience facilities:

Worth the visit:

Directions to the Sculpture Park: Get to Mokpo - both trains and buses make their way here on a fairly regular basis. No buses stopped anywhere close to the sculpture park, but from the train station, 조각공원 (Jo-gak-gong-won) is a minimum-fare taxi ride (2,300 won as of this posting). If coming from the bus terminal, take bus 1, 1-1, or 1-2 to the train station and catch a taxi from there to save money.

© Chris Backe - 2010

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