We
called Royal Palace in Joseon Dynasty as houses which King is presently living
or which lived one time before he becomes the King or which the King stayed one
time or more during his travel. But it is principally used to put the word of
Royal Palace where King is not only presently living but also doing political
activity. There are five major Royal Palaces in Seoul as Deoksugung Palace, Gyeongbokgung
Palace, Chandeokgung Palace, Changgyeonggung
Palace and Gyeonghuigung Palace. People has sometimes called these palaces as
North Palace, Middle Palace or East Palace or West Palace referring to each
location. .
There
are not many people know all these palaces were damaged or destroyed by Japanese
in 93% during Japanese ruling times which means only 7 percent left over when
Korea is independent from Japan. This is obvious evidence why and how Japanese
treat Korea as such which should not forget and remind to every Korean. All
destroyed and damaged palaces have been recently restored after independent in
reference to historical records. There is clear reason why they destroyed or
damaged because they do not like to see Korea keep spiritual energy to next generation,
cultural erase.
1. Deoksugung Palace
This
is one of the five palaces of Korea’s last dynasty, the Joseon Dynasty, which
lasted for over 500 years from 1392 until 1910. The dynasty had two critical
moments: one the end of the 16th century and the other at the end of the 19th
century. Both of them were related to this palace and to Japanese invasion
coincidentally.
In
1592, the Japanese army landed in Busan and marched to the capital, Seoul.
Prior to their arrival, King Seonjo fled to Uiju, where he stayed for one and a
half years. When he returned to Seoul, he had no place to stay because all of
the palaces had been burned down during the war. So, he used this place, which
was originally the residence of one of his relative’s families, as a temporary
palace. Prince Gwanghaegun succeeded King Seonjo and then renamed this place
“Hyeongungung Palace”. After he was overthrown by King Injo, it was not used
for about 270 years.
After
King Gojong returned from the refuge with Russian legation, he chose to reside
in this palace. He renamed this palace “Gyeongungung Palace” and expanded it.
He also proclaimed to the world the establishment of the Daehan Empire and
raised his own status from king to that of an emperor. He remained at the
palace even after he had been forced to hand over the throne to his son,
Emperor Sunjong. The name of the palace was changed at this time to Deoksugung
Palace, meaning the “Palace of virtuous longevity.” In 1910, the official
Japanese colonization of the Daehan Empire was completed. In 1919, Gojong
passed away. His sudden death was one of the causes of the March 1st Independence
movement.
Under
the colonial rule of Japan, the palace was converted into a public park by
Japan. The scale of Deoksugung Palace was decreased to one-third its original
size, and the number of buildings reduced to just one-tenth. Please see more
details at http://www.deoksugung.go.kr:8081/
2. Gyeongbokgung Palace
It was in 1395, three
years after the Joseon Dynasty was founded by King Taejo (Yi Seong-gye), when
the construction of the main royal Palace was completed after the capital of
the newly founded dynasty moved from Gaeseong to Seoul (then known as Hanyang).
The Palace was named Gyeongbokgung Palace, the "Palace Greatly Blessed by
Heaven." With Mount Bugaksan to its rear and Mount Namsan in the
foreground, the site of Gyeongbokgung Palace was at the heart of Seoul and,
indeed, deemed auspicious according to the traditional practice of geomancy.
In front of Gwanghwamun
Gate, the main entrance to the Palace, ran Yukjo-geori (Street of Six
Ministries, today's Sejongno), home to major government offices. Along the
central axis upon which Gwanghwamun Gate stood was the nucleus of the Palace,
including the throne hall, council hall and king's residence. The government
ministry district and main buildings of Gyeongbokgung Palace formed the heart
of the capital city of Seoul and represented the sovereignty of the Joseon
Dynasty. After all the Palaces in the capital were razed by the Japanese during
the Hideyoshi invasions of 1592-'98, Changdeokgung Palace, a secondary Palace,
was rebuilt and served as the main Palace. Gyeongbokgung Palace was left
derelict for the next 273 years. It was finally reconstructed in 1867 by the
order of the Prince Regent. The Palace Prince Regent Heungseon reconstructed
was markedly different from the original. Some 500 buildings were built on a
site of over 40 hectares and constituted a small city. The architectural
principles of ancient China were harmoniously incorporated into both the
tradition and the appearance of the Joseon royal court. Gyeongbokgung Palace
was largely torn down during the Japanese occupation. ninety three percent of
the restored buildings were dismantled, Gwanghwamun Gate was dismantled and relocated
to the east, and an enormous building housing the Japanese Government-General
was constructed in front of the main sector of the Palace.
An effort to fully
restore Gyeongbokgung Palace to its former glory has been ongoing since 1990.
The Japanese Government-General building was finally removed, and Heungnyemun
Gate was restored to its original state. The royal living quarters and the East
Palace for the crown prince were also restored to their original state. Please
see more details at http://www.royalpalace.go.kr:8080/html/eng_gbg/main/main.jsp
3. Chandeokgung Palace
Changdeokgung
Palace was registered as UNESCO World heritage in 1997 and also known as
Donggwol, the Eastern Palace, because of its location to the east of
Gyeongbokgung Palace. For 270 years, the palace was home to the Joseon
government and was also the favored residence of many Joseon Dynasty kings.
This makes Changdeokgung Palace the longest-serving royal residential palace.
Compared to other palaces, Changdeokgung Palace is well-preserved and still has
many of its original features. A particular virtue of Changdeokgung Palace is
the way its buildings blend into the surrounding landscape. The palace's rear
garden, Huwon, is considered an excellent example of Korean garden design and
is the only rear garden of any Korea Palace. In 1997, Changdeokgung Palace was
added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Visitors
to Changdeokgung Palace might also like to see the nearby Changgyeonggung
Palace as well as the recently restored Naeuiwon (Royal infirmary) at the
entrance to Changdeokgung Palace.
Huwon:
a garden of natural beauty is self-contained and occupies sixty percent of
Changdeokgung. The palace buildings are situated on the ridge of Bugaksan (Mt.)
and have very few artificial features in order to blend into their natural
surroundings. In the center of Huwon is a large pond, Buyongji, along with
Buyongjeong (Pavilion) and Juhapru (Pavilion). A cross-shaped roof and two
supporting pillars rising from the pond make the design of Buyongjeong unique.
It is said that King Jeongjo (the twenty-second king of the Joseon Dynasty) and
his courtiers often enjoyed fishing here at Buyongjeong. In the past Juhapru
housed a royal library and was a place where both king and courtiers studied
and discussed politics. Eosumun (Gate), the entrance to Juhapru, has a symbolic
meaning for kings and government officials because of its name which literally
means “Fish cannot live without water” but is usually understood as “The ruler
should always put his people first.” This is main entrance to the Changdeokgung
palace. When it was first built, there was a white granite substructure, on the
top of which a two-storied gate building was erected. This is a typical
structure of the entrance to our palace that was transmitted from the Three
Kingdoms period. Unfortunately, now, the substructure has disappeared; only the
two-storied building remains. This is quite different from the structure of the
Gwanghwamun, the main entrance to the main palace of the Joseon Dynasty, which
was erected on the structure with three open arches on the ground.
As one
may observe, the Donhwamun is elegant but simple because it was built as an
entrance to a separate palace of the Changdeokgung palace. The Donhwamun was
set on fire by the Japanese invaders, but it was reconstructed as it had been
by King Seonjo in 1607. It's the oldest entrance to remain in Seoul. Only the
threshold of the entrance was reconstructed so that an automobile could pass
through it easily. (Treasure No.383). Please see more details at http://eng.cdg.go.kr/main/main.htm.
5. Gyeonghuigung Palace
The Gyeonghuigung Palace was
completed after an extended period of construction, during the 12th year of the
reign of Gwanghaegun (1620). After the Japanese invasion in 1592, Changdeokgung
Place was used as the residence of the king, while Gyeonghuigung Palace was
used as a detached palace. The palaces were also named according to their
geological location: Changdeokgung and Changgyeonggung were called the East
Palaces, while Gyeonghuigung was called the West Palace. During its heyday,
Gyeonghuigung comprised more than 100 halls, most of which were burnt down in
two separate conflagrations, one during the 29th year of the reign of King Sunjo
(1829) and the other during the 20th year of the reign of King Gojong. The
remaining halls also faced similar fates, as the Japanese colonialists
demolished most of them to build schools to educate their children. After the
national liberation in 1945, Seoul High School was built on the site, where it
remained until 1978. In 1985, several buildings including Sungjeongjeon Hall
were restored. Please see more details at http://eng.museum.seoul.kr/eng/index.do
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