Abstract
Since fire was founded in the world, human races have invented various heating methods. Ondol is traditional heating method in Korea. It is very the important work to trace the history and characteristics of Ondol which originated and was developed in the Korean peninsula. Especially, the study on Ondol will contribute to improving the present heating methods and predicting future ones. In this paper, we shall study through the analysis of documents such as oriental documents, the document of Choseon dynasty, European documents and American documents. In order to discover the origins of Ondol as one of the excellent heating method all over the world, This study aims at identifying the history and characteristics of Ondol in the Korean peninsula, through document analysis. Results of this study are as follows. 1) The first document about Ondol is Sookyongjoo(水經注), Chinese ancient geography book. Contents recorded in the book include the description related to Ondol at Kwankyesa temple which was located at the border land between Gogooryo(ancient Korea) and the northeast of China. 2) Ondol was popular heating method in Gogooryo(ancient Korea) and it was used in not only Gogooryo but also Silla Kingdom and Beakje Kingdom. Thereafter, it was also used widely in Goryo dynasty and Choseon dynasty. Thereby we know that Ondol has been used as a heating method for a long time in the Korean peninsula. 3) Ondol was covered with a floor paper since the beginning of Choseon dynasty. the paper made room clean and impacted on Korean life style. Because the floor was clean and warm, Koreans thus took off shoes and sat on the floor. 4) Ondol was spreaded to Jeju island in Korea before 16th century but wasn't used widely there. The reason was that Ondol was rare high class heating system and the weather was warm in Jeju island. 5) The overspreading of Ondol caused that poor people built roughly Ondol in the last of Choseon dynasty. So, the quality of Ondol gradually became lower and lower. 6) A westerner was impressed by the novelty of Ondol and Frank Lloyd Wright had played an important role to update and spread Ondol widely all over the world. Hailing Ondol as the ideal heating system, Frank Lloyd Wright began incorporating it in his buildings back in the U.S. and even invented a modified ondol system, using hot water running through pipes instead of the hot exhaust through flues.