[Courtesy of Namwonyechon]
South Korea's luxurious "Hanok" hotel crafted by a band of master carpenters opened Friday as a landmark in the southern city of Namwon, featuring a pavilion, a pond and other traditional things to attract foreign tourists.
[Courtesy of Namwonyechon]
The hotel called "Namwonyechon" is abundant with the characteristic feature of Hanok, a form of traditional Korean houses built in harmony with their surroundings, such as "Ondol", "Daecheong", mud-plastered walls, tiled roofs, traditional bedding, a flower garden and a pond.
Ondol is a unique system using heat from kitchen furnaces to warm the rock and clay floor of a Hanok house while Daecheong is a wide front porch used as a balcony or an open living room.
[Courtesy of Namwonyechon]
Using it as a city landmark, about 240 kilometers (144 miles) south of Seoul, Namwon hopes to boost tourism and bring its old section to life. The hotel has 15 Hanoks, half of them reserved for 98 tourists while there are places for seminars and workshops.
City mayor Lee Hwang-ju described the hotel as South Korea's "highest-level" Hanok cluster showing old architectural techniques. The hotel provides modern convenience such as air conditioning as well as traditional breakfast catering services.
[Courtesy of Namwonyechon]
It also provides visitors with various types of experience such as traditional games, lectures in "Seodang" (traditional Korean school), lighting fires in traditional Korean kitchen furnaces, and wood chopping.
Aju News Park Sae-jin = swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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