Suwon City revives `King Jeongjo’s royal parade`

“King Jeongjo’s royal tomb parade” from Seoul all the way down to Suwon and then to its final destination Hwaseong will be re-enacted. The royal tomb parade was King Jeongjo’s travel from the palace to the tomb of his father, Crown Prince Sado, to pay honor to his father.

“We are now planning to hold King Jeongjo’s royal tomb parade, which begins at Seoul heading for the temporary palace in Hwaseong, then to the Yungeon Royal Tomb in Hwaseong. The parade is a joint project between the research institutes on Seoul Suwon that are now studying on the project,” said Yeom Tae-yeong, mayor of Suwon City. “The project results will come out before the end of spring, based on which we will push forward with the event for 2016 Visit Suwon Year.”

Historical records show that the royal tomb parade was stretched some 60 kilometers from Changdeok Palace in Seoul to Yung Royal Tomb where the tomb of Crown Prince Sado is located via pontoon bridge of the Han River, Anyang and Hwaseong. If Seoul and Suwon are working in cooperation for a large-scale parade, the occasion appears to be the biggest event of history and tourism in Korea. The event was being discussed from 2006 to 2010 but cancelled by the objection of Suwon City.

In 1789, King Jeongjo relocated his father’s tomb to the Yung Royal Tomb, the current location in Hwaseong, and visited multiple times. The largest-scale tomb parade made in February 1795 is recorded in detail in “Wonhaeng Eulmyo Jeongri Uigwe” along with the 60th anniversary event held at Hwaseong`s temporary palace of Lady Hyegyeong, mother of King Jeongjo. Since 1996, Suwon City has re-enacted the yearly tomb parade in its downtown area.