Gyeongbokgung Palace
Site View and Location
Gyeongbokgung Palace
South Korea
Longitude: 126.977
Latitude: 37.5796
Historical Significance
Gyeongbokgung is the grandest and most symbolically significant of the Five Grand Palaces of the Joseon Dynasty, representing over five centuries of Korean royal culture, Confucian governance, and architectural refinement. Its near-total destruction — Japanese colonial authorities demolished approximately 90% of the complex between 1911 and 1926, erecting the Japanese Government-General Building directly in front of the throne hall to assert colonial dominance — makes its ongoing restoration a powerful act of national cultural recovery. Since 1990, South Korea has poured enormous resources into a decades-long reconstruction effort, rebuilding hundreds of structures from historical records and returning the palace toward its original grandeur as a symbol of Korean sovereignty and identity.
Facts
Fact 1
Destroyed as an Act of Colonial Power
Japanese colonial authorities systematically demolished around 90% of the palace's 330 buildings between 1911 and 1926, and in 1926 completed the Japanese Government-General Building directly on the palace's central axis — a deliberate act of architectural domination designed to literally overshadow the Korean throne; the Government-General Building was itself demolished in 1996.
Fact 2
The Changing of the Guard
The elaborate Royal Guard Changing Ceremony (Wangung Sumugyogdae) held at Gwanghwamun Gate has been reconstructed based on Joseon-era records and is performed multiple times daily; the guards wear historically accurate costumes and the ceremony draws enormous crowds — it was one of the first cultural programmes restored after the palace's revival.
Fact 3
Burned and Abandoned for 270 Years
The palace was burned during the Japanese invasion of 1592 (Imjin War) and left in ruins for nearly 270 years until Regent Heungseon Daewongun ordered its reconstruction in 1867; the regent financed the rebuilding partly by imposing a controversial "gate tax" on Seoul's citizens, generating lasting public resentment.
Fact 4
National Folk Museum Within the Walls
The National Folk Museum of Korea and the National Palace Museum of Korea are both located within the palace grounds, meaning visitors can explore living Korean cultural heritage and thousands of Joseon-era royal artefacts without leaving the palace compound.
Fact 5
48 Pillars of Gyeonghoeru
The spectacular Gyeonghoeru Pavilion, built in 1412 and rebuilt in 1867, stands on 48 stone columns rising from an artificial pond — the outer columns are square (representing earth) and the inner columns are round (representing heaven), reflecting the cosmological symbolism embedded throughout Joseon royal architecture.
Fact 6
A Palace in a Modern Capital
Gyeongbokgung sits in the heart of central Seoul, directly north of Gwanghwamun Square on an axis aligned with the Blue House (Cheong Wa Dae), the former presidential residence — the palace and the modern apparatus of the South Korean state occupy the same symbolic ground claimed by Joseon kings six centuries ago.