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Jeonju is the capital and largest city of Jeonbuk State in southwestern South Korea, set in a basin of low mountains with the Jeonjucheon stream running through its heart. It is known above all for the Jeonju Hanok Village, Gyeonggijeon Shrine and bibimbap, and in 2012 UNESCO named it a Creative City for Gastronomy.
Around 900 the rebel leader Gyeon Hwon made the city, then called Wansan, the capital of Later Baekje. The royal Yi clan of the Joseon dynasty traced its roots to Jeonju, which became the seat of Jeolla Province and in 1413 one of the keepers of the royal annals. In 1894 Donghak peasant rebels seized the walled city, and when the walls came down only Pungnammun Gate survived.
Today visitors stroll the tiled lanes of the Hanok Village, from Jeondong Cathedral and Gyeonggijeon to the hill of Omokdae, then eat bibimbap or bean sprout soup. Each spring the Jeonju International Film Festival fills the city, and Deokjin Park blooms with lotus in July.
Gyeonggijeon Shrine in Jeonju was built in 1410 to enshrine the portrait of King Taejo, founder of the Joseon dynasty, whose clan came from the city. Burned in the Imjin War and rebuilt in 1614, its walled grounds hold the original portrait in the Royal Portrait Museum and a restored royal archive.
Pungnammun Gate is the south gate of the walled city of Jeonju and the only one of its four gates still standing. Rebuilt in 1768 after a fire and named by the governor Hong Nak-in, it survived when the walls were pulled down in 1907, was restored from 1978 to 1981 and is a Treasure of Korea.
Jeonju Gaeksa, the Joseon guesthouse of the city, received royal envoys and visiting officials, who bowed here to the king's tablet. Rebuilt in 1473, its main hall carries the signboard Pungpae Jigwan, naming Jeonju as the ancestral home of the royal family, and it is a Treasure of Korea.
Jeondong Cathedral in Jeonju was built between 1908 and 1914 in a Romanesque and Byzantine style on the spot where Yun Ji-chung, the first Korean Catholic martyr, was executed in 1791. A Historic Site of Korea, its red brick facade and domed towers face Gyeonggijeon across the road.
Jeonju Hanok Village in Pungnam-dong and Gyo-dong is a district of more than 700 traditional hanok houses, built by Koreans from the 1910s as Japanese settlers moved inside the old walls. Named an International Slow City in 2010, its lanes of tea houses and workshops draw millions every year.
Jeonju Hyanggyo is the old state Confucian school of Jeonju, first founded in 1354 beside the site of Gyeonggijeon and rebuilt at its present place in 1603. Unusually, its shrine hall Daeseongjeon stands in front of the lecture hall Myeongnyundang, and the school once had 99 rooms.
Omokdae is a hill on the east side of the Jeonju Hanok Village where Yi Seong-gye held a victory feast in 1380 after defeating Japanese raiders at Hwangsan, before he founded Joseon. A stele of 1900 carries Emperor Gojong's own handwriting, and the hilltop gives a fine view over the hanok roofs.
Jaman Mural Village climbs the hillside above the Jeonju Hanok Village, a neighbourhood first settled by refugees during the Korean War. Since 2012 its lanes have been painted with murals, many showing cartoon favourites such as Totoro and Doraemon, and a rooftop garden looks out across the city.
Jeonju National Museum opened on 26 October 1990 as the ninth national museum of South Korea and presents the history and culture of the Jeonbuk region. Its main building has galleries of archaeology, fine art and folklore, and its collection includes relics of the Baekje kingdom.
Deokjin Park in Deokjin-gu surrounds a lake formed in the Goryeo period, opened as a city park in 1978 and famous for its great lotus beds that bloom each July. A suspension bridge crosses the water, and Yeonhwajeong, a hanok-style library on an island in the lake, opened in June 2022.
Jeonju Bibimbap is the city's signature dish: rice cooked in beef bone broth, mixed with bean sprouts and topped with yellow mung bean jelly, raw beef and many more ingredients. It helped make Jeonju a UNESCO Creative City for Gastronomy in 2012, and a bibimbap festival is held in the Hanok Village.
Kongnamul Gukbap, rice in a clear soup of soybean sprouts, is with bibimbap a signature dish of Jeonju. Cooked with bean sprouts and egg, it is cheap and filling, and locals pair it with moju, a mild Jeonju makgeolli brewed with medicinal herbs and cinnamon as a hangover cure.
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