Gyeongbokgung

Gyeongbokgung was the first palace of the Joseon dynasty, begun in 1394 when King Taejo chose Hanyang, today's Seoul, as his capital, and completed in its first form in 1395. Its site was picked by the principles of Chinese ritual classics and Korean geomancy: the palace backs onto Bugaksan mountain and faces the water of the Cheonggyecheon and the Han, with the royal ancestral shrine of Jongmyo to its left and the altar of earth and grain to its right. Its name, "palace of great blessings", comes from a line in the Chinese Classic of Poetry. The palace reached its golden age under Sejong the Great, who moved in during the 1420s and whose scholars developed the Korean alphabet, Hangul, within its walls, alongside a water clock and an astronomical observatory.

Its history since has been one of repeated loss. During the Japanese invasions of 1592 the palace burned to the ground and lay in ruins for about 270 years, until the regent of King Gojong ordered its rebuilding in 1865; by 1888 it held around 500 buildings, and in 1887 it received the first electric light in Korea. In 1895 Queen Min was assassinated by Japanese agents at Geoncheonggung, a residence within the palace grounds. Under colonial rule Japan dismantled the palace systematically, selling buildings off and planting the massive Government-General building in front of the throne hall; by 1945 only about 40 pre-colonial structures remained. That building was demolished in 1995–1996, and restoration plans running to 2045 have since recreated dozens of halls.

Visitors pass through the great gate of Gwanghwamun and a sequence of gates and courtyards laid out on a north-south axis, towards the throne hall Geunjeongjeon and the Gyeonghoeru banquet pavilion rising from its pond. A reenactment of the changing of the royal guard, revived in 2002, is held twice a day. The grounds also contain the National Palace Museum of Korea and the National Folk Museum of Korea. It remains closely tied to modern power: the Blue House lies just to the north and the government quarter around Gwanghwamun Square to the south.

Getting there

The palace is in central Seoul, about 1.5 km from the city centre, and Gyeongbokgung subway station serves it directly. Gimpo International Airport (GMP) is about 17 km away.