These statues, the Stone Grandfathers, were used as boundary markers on Jeju Island in South Korea. The 250 cm statues were given to Santa Rosa by the city of Bukjeju, South Korea in 2003. In South Korean, Dolhareubang statues like these are placed near village entrances and boundaries.
The "Stone Grandfathers" have wry smiles, hands on their bellies and are believed to ward off evil spirits, are hand-cut basalt figures.
BACKGROUND
• Santa Rosa and Bukjeju of South Korea have been sister cities since 1996. The purpose of the sister cities program is to increase international understanding and foster goodwill and world peace by furthering international communication and exchange at the person-to-person level through city-to-city affiliations. Such exchanges are achieved in a wide variety of cultural, educational, youth, sports, municipal, professional, and economic projects.
• The Bukjeju Sister City Committee puts together two exchanges a year, one for the Fire Festival in February and one in the summer for student exchanges.
On May 15, 2003, a delegation of Bukjeju County officials unveiled and dedicated two massive Jeju Dolhareubang (stone grandfathers), which now stand together in the grassy portion of Sonoma Avenue Park, facing Santa Rosa City Hall.
The year 2006 marked the 10th anniversary of Santa Rosa’s sister city relationship with Bukjeju. Both cities have planned very special projects. Santa Rosa sent a group of Artstart students to paint a mural in Bukjeju in June, and art students from Bukjeju painted a mural in Santa Rosa.
Bukjeju, South Korea, gave a basalt statue of “A Woman with Water Jar” as a gift to commemorate the 10 years of a wonderful relationship during Rose Parade on May 20, 2006, and unveiled the statue at 4th Street to replace an old, existing fountain. Costs for installation, including applicable permits, structural and engineering analyses, demolishing and removing existing sculpture, replacing/upgrading site plumbing, creation of new base or elevating current base, transportation and placement of the sculpture, are estimated to be between $15,000 and $30,000.