Gyeongbokgung Palace and Downtown Seoul, Korea

16.01.2011

During the winter break I had an opportunity to travel to Seoul, Korea again. Surrounded by financial high rises on one side and trendy cafes and art galleries on the other lies Gyeongbokgung Palace. Though I didn't actually get to go inside the palace, seeing it from the outside in the cold December air was quite an impressive reminder of its historical past. Looking into the background mountain and the various palace builidings covered in snow I could just imagine the old emperor and Royal family sipping tea inside with their beautiful traditional hanboks (imagine a Korean version of a kimono), powdered faces, and sophisticated hairstyles.

Gyeongbokgung Palace was first constructed in 1394 by King Taejo and was the largest of the 5 palaces built by the Joseon Dynasty. The palace burned down and was rebuilt a number of times throughout history. After being reconstructed in 1867, the palace is said to have had 330 buildings and 5,792 rooms. From 1911, the Japanese government destroyed all but 10 of the buildings, including the surrounding wall. The Japanese also constructed the massive Japanese General Government Building in front of the throne hall to discredit the Joseon Dynasty. Interestingly the Japanese purposely constructed the General Government building slightly slanted and not quite adjacent to the throne hall. This was a clear sign of disrespect to the Korean Royal family, as well as a gesture towards the supposed inferiority of the Korean people and culture. Since the Palace was the center-point of the city, the slanted position of the government building actually affected the layout of constructed buildings throughout Seoul (since they mirrored the position of the center-point, the Palace).

The Japanese occupation and the Korean War severely destroyed most of the Palace and in 1989 the Korean government embarked on a 40 year project to restore it. In 1995 the government finally decided to destroy the Japanese government building in an effort to restore the Palace back to the its pre-colonial state, as well as rid the city of any reminders of the harsh Japanese occupation. Today only the very top of the government building has been saved and exists as a part of a memorial in a museum devoted to the Japanese occupation. As of 2009, it is said that about 40% of the original Palace has been restored.

Interesting fact: The name "Korea" was actually originally spelled with a "C" (Corea). The Japanese were the ones who changed the spelling to "Korea" during their occupation since "K" came after "J" in the alphabet and as we know, has remained the same ever since.

Just across from the Palace entrance are two the most noticeable statues in central Seoul. The furthest of the two is Yi Sun-Shin, a naval commander best noted his victories against the Japanese during the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592-1598). Even today, Sun-Shin remains an important hero to many Koreans.

The closer of the two statues is King Sejong the Great (one of only two Korean rulers to have been honored with the title "the great"). Sejong is most notably famous for introducing the hangul (Korean alphabet), as well as utilizing certain technological advances to expand his terrorities. If put into European terms, you could say King Sejong was a bit like the supposed "enlightened" rulers of Europe such as Alexander/Frederick the Great.

The statues sit nicely inbetween the towering, glassy financial and business high rises on their left and right sides, as well as the historic Palace gate that sits directly behind them. The statues resound themselves as testiments of strength, perseverience, and ingenunity amongst the glassy high rises in downtown Seoul that have come to existence through its modern-day success and power.