Stairs to See Stars

The stars in this staircase's name did not appear overhead. Gamcheon residents saw them before their eyes as they climbed home carrying heavy loads.

One hundred forty-eight steps, almost in a straight line, connect the lower and upper parts of the slope. When families settled in houses on the terraces, this passage became their way home. The narrow alleys allowed people through but not vehicles, so groceries and other heavy things had to be carried by hand. On the way up, people stopped, turned around, and, from fatigue and dizziness, saw bright dots before their eyes. That is how the residents named the passage the “Stairs to See Stars.”

Decades later, the artist Na In-ju settled in Gamcheon to live alongside local residents and bring their experience into her work. She quickly learned the practical calculation of everyday life here: once you get home, you do not want to go back down again for a purchase—you will have to return uphill.

Now the tourist map marks the staircase as an attraction. All one hundred forty-eight steps still lie between the lower and upper streets—the very route home through which the residents gave the staircase its name.