A Tale of Two Palaces, Part I

During the last weekend I was fortunate enough to go up to Seoul and do some sightseeing and shutterbugging. Due to the large amount of pictures I took over the two days, and all the information to go along with them, I will have to break this post into two parts... so I will start with what I did on Friday and then move on to Saturday's trip tomorrow.

So Friday came and it was nice and cloudy outside. It looked like it might rain, and since I love the rain so much, I thought about just scrapping my plans to go to Seoul and stay home for the day. Well, after talking with Veronica and the kids I decided to throw caution to the wind and go up to Seoul anyway. I figured that the worst thing that could happen is it would start to rain and I could just turn around.

I decided to go to a palace I had been wanting to see for a number of months now... Deoksugung, the Palace of Virtuous Longevity. It is designated as Korea's Historic Site #124 and is a great example of Joseon (or Chosun, depending on the spelling) Dynasty (1392-1910) architecture. It was originally the home of King Seongjung's brother, Prince Wolsan. It became a temporary palace during the Japanese invasion in 1592 when all other palaces in Seoul had been burned down.

As I walked along I found this statue of Great King Sejong (1397-1450). He was a king of Joseon who is best known as the creator of Hangul, the Korean alphabet. His creation moved literacy in Korea from the highest classes to all members of Korean society. He also created the script that is used in writing Korean to this day.

One of the main attractions at Deoksu is of course Junghwajeon, the main hall. It was used as a throne room and audience hall. In front of the building, as with most of the Korean palaces, are court stones that indicated positions for civil and military officials during royal ceremonies.

Near the main hall is Gwangmyeongmun, which was formerly the front gate of Hamnyeongjeon (another hall in the palace proper). In 1938 it was moved to its current location where it is now used to display 3 items: 1. A Singijeon launcher carriage, which carried iron tipped bamboo arrows with a paper gunpowder rocket on the rear (the singijeon is the oldest weapon in the world for which there is still a blueprint that was made when the weapon was constructed), 2. the Heungcheonsa bell, and 3. Borugak Jagyeongnu, the state standard water clock of Joseon, which was made to strike a bell at a certain hour automatically. Close-ups of the three follow:


Further on there was some lovely garden areas near the National Museum of Art. I didn't have the time this day to stop by the museum, but I did enjoy walking around outside and viewing the beautiful scenery.

Near the museum was Junmyeongdang and Seokjojeon, halls which were used by Emperor Gojong to receive foreign envoys. They were later used to house portraits of Emperor Gojong and Sunjong, as well as serving as the Royal Museum from 1992-2004. I just love the second picture above, because I think it really shows the distiction between the old and new architecture in Korea.

As I walked around the many pathways (which were so peaceful and serene with all the trees and such), I came across this sign. The sign isn't too significant (it is wonderful that they are watching out for everyone's safety... but what got me was the fact that I took this picture at eye level! The top of the doorway hit me at about my chin.

So after I had walked around the whole palace area (I have more pictures, but this is already a long post... if you want to see more, give me a holler and I can send them to you), I made my way toward the exit and the hustle and bustle of downtown Seoul. The second picture shows just outside the palace gate, and off to the left you can see the Seoul City Hall.

One of the main reasons I had been wanting to come to this palace was to see the Changing of the Guard ceremony that they have there outside the main gate. It was a wonderful event, complete with the captains exchanging and verifying the password of the day, handing over the key box (the charge of the gate), confirmation of the Bu-sin (a plaque, divided in half, which carries the king's orders) and handing over the official insignia, and finally the changing of the guards. The following pictures are only a sampling of the ceremony, but I think they give a good indication of the ritual.

Well, that's about it... Oh, after the ceremony they allowed people to come up and have pictures taken with the captain of the guard (which of course I did), and to get dressed up as a soldier of Joseon for pictures (I put that one as my main photo for this blog). It was a great day. Tomorrow... Changgyeonggung.