Gyeongbokgung

Brief Information

Gyeongbokgung was not simply one of the royal residences, but the main and largest of the five grand palaces of the Joseon era. The royal family lived there, so the scale here is connected not with decoration for effect, but with the organization of power: the complex had to accommodate the court, ceremonies, and the rulers’ everyday life.

The history of the palace can be read through its losses just as clearly as through its surviving buildings. Some of the structures burned down during the Japanese invasion of 1592; later, in the 1860s, the palace was rebuilt into a vast complex with hundreds of buildings. In 1911, the Japanese authorities demolished another 10 palace buildings and built the Government-General of Korea building. As a result, today’s open-air museum shows not a single, frozen palace, but a place that changed its appearance several times because of power and war.

What to notice first

It is worth comparing the two main structures: the Geunjeongjeon throne hall and the Gyeonghoeru pavilion. The first is connected with the official side of the palace; the second is arranged differently: it stands in the middle of an artificial lake on 48 granite columns. This simple difference helps show that the complex was not limited to a single ceremonial axis; within it, a ceremonial building and a waterside pavilion existed side by side, where the architecture works together with the lake and its supports.

Gyeonghoeru has a detail that changes the scale of perception: the pavilion appeared on an old 10,000-won banknote. This means that an individual palace building became a recognizable state image, not only part of a museum complex. In front of the entrance, you can also notice a reenactment of the changing of the guard from the Joseon period: it shows that the palace is perceived not only as a set of buildings, but also as a place with restored ceremonial action.