Visiting Suwon, Korea

This is Sue's father who was based at the Suwon Air Force base from 1952 to 1953.  He photographed a number of historic sites around the Suwon area.  This day was set aside to retrace his steps and the photos that he made.

Hwaesong Fortress

 

Our first visit was to the Hwaseong Fortress.  To read more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwaseong_Fortress

We started walking along the wall starting on the green hill and proceeded to the north on the inside of the wall.

We approached the gate area which Al believed was the one that Frank photographed in 1952.

But after some inspection, we found that this was not the gate as it had been badly damaged during the war.

This, we believe, was the actual gate, now under reconstruction.  They really get serious about reconstruction as the steel beams are visible supporting the structure.

Yungneung tomb and temple of King Jangjo
Of the historical sites around Suwon, Frank visited a tomb of two kings who reigned in the 18th century.  These are the two kings King Jangjo (1735-1762) and King Jeongjo (1752-1800).  He took some 35mm slides which have held their color over the years.
 

 An example is this where he was posing in front of a pavilion used by the royalty to show respect to their ancestors.

Sue standing in the same relative spot.

Sue, Jihee and our guide and enabler are examining a stair used by royalty in the past to get to the upper level which was reserved for them.  The point of examination shows damage from bullets and a fungus that grows and can damage the relics.  Removal of the fungus can have deleterious effects on the artifact.
 
One day Al was checking on this site when he came upon a blogger who had visited the site said that people cannot get next to the figures  Al put the photos onto an iTouch.  When we arrived at the site, we showed the photos to a person at the gate and they made an exception.  So we were given special permission to reprise the photos with Sue standing approximately where Frank had posed in 1952. 
 

A side view of the tomb.  

Note the abundance of trees around the site now as compared to 1952.
 

Frank, on left, and a friend pose with a warrior thought to guard the king.  On the left is a figure of a scholar.

The fungus problem has been around for a while.

Posing with the warrior.

We went to the peak of a hill nearby and were able to look over Suwon and the air base where Frank served.  There were Quonset huts in some of the photos that he took and they seem to still be there.


 
We went to a temple related to the same king.  
 

 A building withing the complex, still in active use as a Buddhist temple

All in all, a great day and success with one of our major objectives.