Forgoten Boundaries, Discovered in Donggwoldo

Of numerous doors depicted in Donggwoldo, Arumjigi reproduced imun (“two doors”) that is two doors side-by-side, one taller than the other, as well as a wooden door and a hedge door. Although these doors are illustrated in Donggwoldo, the materials used for these doors, shapes in detail, means of opening and closing, and structures are not shown. Reproducing these doors required very painstaking research.

Two kinds of boundary marking facilities were reproduced. One is a wooden fence, and the other is a hedge. A hedge door is, obviously, impossible without a hedge. A hedge seems to have been made of bamboo, but a bamboo hedge is not durable or solid enough for everyday use. According to our reinterpretation of the plant hedge at Donggwoldo, the hedge in this exhibition is made of steel piping. Modulated for assembly on site, this steel pipe hedge can be readily applied to modern architecture.

All the doors and wooden fences in Donggwoldo are painted in multiple colors such as red iron and terra rosa. Called dancheong, this multicolor painting on the wood surface of a fence is intended to embellish the frame and protect surfaces from weathering, and to create harmony with palace buildings that are also decorated in dancheong. However, the doors exhibited at this exhibition are not painted in dancheong. Instead, they are painted a bleached bone color, which matches well with the Arumjigi building in the background. Of course, if these doors are to be installed at other places, they can be of different heights and painted in multiple colors.