Things to Do in Korea: Seoul’s Changdeokgung Palace

Seoul has a handful of palace complexes that are all a bit different, have played an important part in Korean history, and are definitely worth checking out. However, out of all the palaces in Seoul only one of them, Changdeok Palace has been designated a World Heritage Area by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The palace is located in northern Seoul across the street from a fellow UNESCO site the Jongmyo Shrine and to the east of Kyeongbok Palace.  Changdeok Palace literally means “Palace of Prospering Virtue” and is easily recognizable when viewed from overhead because it is an island of green in the dense urban jungle of Seoul because of the thick foliage of trees that surrounds the palace.

In fact the green foliage and natural setting of Changdeok Palace played a major role in the justification UNESCO cited for including the palace as a World Heritage Area:

The Committee decided to inscribe this property on the basis of criteria (ii), (iii) and (iv), considering that the Ch’angdokkung Palace Compound is an outstanding example of Far Eastern palace architecture and garden design, exceptional for the way in which the buildings are integrated into and harmonized with the natural setting, adapting to the topography and retaining indigenous tree cover.

Besides the natural setting of the palace, UNESCO also cited the outstanding palace architecture as part of the reasoning for naming the palace a World Heritage Area. From the moment you arrive at the front gate of the palace it is easy to see why this is true:

The front gate of the palace is known as Tonhwamun and was first constructed in 1412, seven years after the main complex was constructed in 1405. The gate stood until it was destroyed during the Hideyoshi invasion of Korea in 1592. After the war it was rebuilt in 1607 and some how it has survived all the other subsequent wars on the Korean peninsula to become the oldest two story wooden gate in the entire country.

It is here at Tonhwamun that I bought my ticket for 3000 won to enter the palace. However, unlike other palaces in Seoul, this palace can only be entered as part of a guided tour in order to protect the historical and cultural treasures within the complex. There are tours every hour, but the only English language tours begin at 11:30, 13:30, & 15:30. I toured Changdeok Palace six years ago and found the then English language tour to be quite poor. I was pleasantly surprised this time around because the tour guide was actually quite good, though a bit robotic. A problem with the English language tours is that the limited number of them means the tour groups are quite large. This makes taking pictures and listening to the guide a bit difficult because of the sheer number of people you are surrounded by.

Once the tour began, the first historical structure that was presented was the Geumcheongyo Bridge, which was built in 1411 and is the oldest bridge still used in Seoul:

On the other side of the bridge is the gate that leads to the throne hall of the Korean King:

Changdeok Palace was built in 1405 as a secondary palace for the Korean Chosun Dynasty King with Kyeongbok Palace serving as the primary palace for the Korean royalty. During the Hideyoshi invasion of Korea, Kyeongbok Palace was destroyed and after the war it was not rebuilt and Changdeok Palace became the primary residence of the royal family.

The Chosun Dynasty King’s throne was located in Injeongjeon Hall:

The structure was originally constructed like most of the buildings in the palace in 1405, but was destroyed during the Hideyoshi invasion and rebuilt in 1607. The structure had to once again be reconstructed when it was destroyed by fire in 1803. The throne was rebuilt a year later and the current structure is now over 200 years old.

From this building the King was able to review his troops and governmental officials. The small stone tabulets on the ground are not gravestones, but markers that designated where the different governmental and military officials stood during reviews by the king.

Inside Injeongjeon Hall sits the Korean throne that had served as the seat of power for the Korean King for nearly 300 years:

The throne room is decorated with lavish artwork. The painting behind the throne represents the sun, the moon, and the five sacred mountains of Korea. The room is really incredible to look at with its highly detailed artwork and extragavant chandaliers. As impressive as this room is, the King actually did not use it all that often. Towards the back of this building the King had a smaller throne room the Seonjeongjeon that the King used to hold meetings with his ministers.

Outside of the building the roof is decorated with small and decorative statues of animals that represent an old Asian tale about a monkey king:

The buildings in the palace is filled with bright and colorful artwork. Here is how many of the corners of the roofs are decorated:

The sides of the roofs were painted in these patterns:

Even on lesser structures you could find beautiful, detailed artwork:

Even the doors are beautifully painted:

If you like bright and colorful artwork, Korean royal palaces are definitely the place to see it.

Adjacent to the buildings housing the King’s throne and meeting room is the buildings that housed the royal living quarters and office:

Huijeongdang is the building that served as the royal office. Huijeongdang has some impressive artwork on the sides of the roof:

What is interesting about the King’s office is the combination of eastern and western furnishings:

You can see the combination of western and eastern design in the construction of the building as well:

Huijeongdang was not only the King’s office but was also his living quarters. The queens living quarters, Daejojeon is located behind Huijeongdang:

The furnishings of the Queen’s residence were more traditionally Korean:

However, the royal bed is a mix of western and eastern origins:

The royal kitchen also had plenty of western influence as well:

The heating system though for the palace is purely the Korean ondol system. The ondol system is when hot coals are burned underneath the buildings in order to heat the floors. The smoke from this system is piped out of the building and channeled to these large decorative chimneys behind the buildings:

The ondol system is largely responsible for the Korean habbit of sitting and sleeping on floors.

Across from these royal buildings is the royal garage:

The royal family has had a number of cars that were housed in this garage and are beautifully preserved for people to see to this day.

These first two areas of the palace took about an hour to cover before the tour moved on to the last two portions of the palace Nakseonjae and the Secret Garden.

Next Posting: Nakseonjae and the Secret Garden