Culture Focus

Construction of Gyeongbokgung Palace, the Main Palace

In 1394, two years after the inception of the Joseon Dynasty, King Taejo (r. 1392–1398) relocated the capital to Hanyang. Government officials and Buddhist monks well versed in geomancy and geography looked at candidate sites across the nation and finally chose Hanyang, downstream on the Hangang River, where the water flows from east to west through the heart of the nation. Like Gaegyeong, Hanyang was in a basin surrounded by mountains in all four directions.

The main palace was established facing south on a gentle slope at the foot of Mt. Bugaksan. Workers paved a wide, straight road that extended south of the palace and built major central government offices on each side. The offices framaced the palace, as if looking up to it, with the 342-meter Mt. Bugaksan towering at the back.

It was the new literati class, well versed in Neo-Confucian doctrines, that initiated the founding of the Joseon Dynasty. The literati had long called for the overthrow of Goryeo, where a few influential families had amassed a disproportionate amount of property and Buddhist forces had exerted undue influence over public affairs. While the people of Goryeo had believed in Buddhism—the royal family and commoners alike—Buddhist temples had owned vast tracts of land and exhausted state finances. Members of the new gentry class confiscated the property of Buddhist temples, using it to lay the economic foundation for their dynasty. Instead of Buddhist principles, they embraced Neo-Confucianism, from which they derivednow formed the cardinal tenets of Joseon governance.

Hanyang, the new capital, was an ideal place for the realization of this Neo-Confucian philosophygovernance. Likewise, the palace became a symbol of Neo-Confucian thought. Its position, overlooking the two rows of government offices with Mt. Bugaksan in the background, was the symbolic representation of a just ruler who governed the nation in consultation with his ministers. In 1395, one year after the relocation of the capital to Hanyang, King Taejo advanced into Gyeongbokgung Palace escorted by cheering soldiers.

The Launch of Changdeokgung Palace: A Detached Palace in the Eastern Part of the Capital

Less than three years after the construction of Gyeongbokgung Palace, King Taejo's living quarters, the royal family met with tragedy. The trouble began when King Taejo decided to abdicate the throne and chose as his successor the youngest of his eight sons. However, the king's fifth son, Yi Bang-won, was dissatisfied with his father's decision. He took pride in the meritorious role he had played in the launch of the Joseon Dynasty, and he believed the throne ought to go to him. In 1398, he led a revolt and killed the crown prince, his half-brother. Shattered by the incident, King Taejo renounced the throne and handed power to his second son. However, the actual power was in the hands of Yi Bang-won.

As soon as he ascended the throne, the new monarch, King Jeongjong (r. 1398–1400), abandoned Hanyang for the former capital, Gaegyeong (Gaeseong). Hanyang was in a state of chaos after the revolt, and the king's decision left Gyeongbokgung Palace barren only four years after its completion. This nominal monarch abdicated the throne in less than two years, and his younger brother Yi Bang-won went on to rule as King Taejong (r. 1400–1418).

King Taejong relocated the capital back to Hanyang, but he was reluctant to go back to Gyeongbokgung Palace. He ordered the construction of a smaller palace in the eastern part of the capital, Changdeokgung Palace, and stayed there instead. Though originally intended as a modest home, the new palace was also the site of various court ceremonies, making it necessary to constructadd more buildings.

During his reign, King Taejong installed the main gate at Changdeokgung Palace and expanded it into a true palace deserving of the name. King Taejong also devoted himself to refurbishing the capital and soon ordered officials to rearrange its waterways and carry out a road maintenance and improvement project. When King Sejong (r. 1418–1450) ascended the throne in 1418, becoming the fourth Joseon monarch, he reorganized the state operating systems and promoted various institutions in an effort to reinvigorate the national Confucian rituals.

During King Sejong's reign, Gyeongbokgung Palace became the main royal residence and was refurbished as a place for performing Confucian rites. Thanks to the king's efforts, Gyeongbokgung Palace was equipped with all the amenities befitting an official palace. Changdeokgung Palace, for its part, was established as a cozy and comfortable structure blessed with a superb natural landscape featuring a dense forest and a pond.

Changgyeonggung Palace: A Detached Palace for Queen Dowagers

In 1469, the ninth monarch, King Seongjong (r. 1469–1495), ascended the throne at age thirteen. As queen dowagers of the royal family, his mother and grandmother protected him. His grandmother initiated a seven-year "regency by the queen mother from behind the veil," during which a queen dowager would act on the young ruler's behalf. During those years, a queen dowager would assume the helm of state indoors,, from behind a hanging screen,which was placed between her and the young monarch outside. At the age of twenty, King Seongjong began to manage state affairs himself and decided to build a new palace for his grandmother and the other queen dowagers. He situated this new palace on the eastern side of Changdeokgung Palace and named it Changgyeonggung Palace. After its construction in 1482, Changgyeonggung Palace became a residence not only for queen dowagers but also for court ladies, female palace attendants, and royal concubines. It was also used for subsidiary functions such as the three-year funeral ceremonies for deceased royal family members. Now the Joseon Dynasty had three palaces in its capital.

Gyeongbokgung Palace, as the main palace, was used for receiving foreign envoys and performing major state rituals. However, certain experts believed the palace site was inauspicious. Some claimed it was unsuitable as a royal residence, mainly because Mt. Bugaksan was not in the due north position relative to the capital. Some took issue with the slight northwestern direction in which the palace was situated relative to the city center. Other geomancy pundits even advised the king to build a new palace under a small peak named Eungbong Peak, which occupied the due north position. Even though the Eungbong Peak project never went forward, the feng shui masters' suggestions influenced the Joseon kings. Since the sixteenth century, the kings of Joseon frequented both Gyeongbokgung Palace and Changdeokgung Palace, but in general they preferred the latter.

The Construction of Gyeonghuigung Palace and the Development of Eastern and Western Palaces after the Japanese Invasion of Joseon

After a civil war that lasted nearly a century, Japan was united in the late sixteenth century. Soon afterward, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣秀吉) invaded Joseon in 1592 as a way to assert his military power. During the Japanese invasion, all three palaces were burned down. Although the war didn't last long and ended with the defeat of Japan, it would not be easy to restore the capital to its former state. It was not until the early seventeenth century that a renovation project kicked off. Despite the common view that the restoration of Gyeongbokgung Palace should take priority, Changdeokgung Palace was renovated first. Changdeokgung Palace was chosen partly because of its smaller size, making the project less costly, but also because of its auspiciousness in terms of feng shui. Restoring this auspicious site first was seen as a way to improve public morale after the war.

While the reconstruction of Changdeokgung Palace was under way, King Gwanghaegun (r. 1608–1623) came to the throne. After the work was completed in 1608, however, the king was reluctant to live in the palace. Instead, he built a new palace at the foot of Mt. Inwangsan in the western area of the capital, saying it was more auspicious in terms of geomancy. While it was still under construction, he built another palace just a few kilometers to the south and called it Gyeongdeokgung Palace (later renamed as Gyeonghuigung Palace). He also renovated Changgyeonggung Palace. A series of palace constructions, however, was seen as an insult to the poor. In addition, the king's reckless oppression of the other royal family members backfired and resulted in a coup. Finally, King Gwanghaegun was dethroned and replaced by King Injo (r. 1623–1649), the sixteenth monarch of Joseon.

After King Injo assumed the crown in 1623, those officials who had initiated the coup sought to take real power into their hands. As their power grew, they increasingly came into conflict with each other. Some of King Injo's successors succeeded in recovering the royal power to a certain extent, but were not able to turn the tables completely until the mid-nineteenth century. As the royal power was not strong enough to persuade officials, projects either to renovate the palaces or paint them in brilliant colors were virtually impossible to undertake after the seventeenth century. Under these circumstances, Changdeokgung Palace and Changgyeonggung Palace in the eastern part of the capital and Gyeon-ghuigung Palace in the western part served as main palaces. The kings usually resided at Changdeokgung Palace, but on certain occasions—for example, during outbreaks of infectious disease— they would move to Gyeonghuigung Palace. As time passed, Changdeokgung Palace and Changgyeonggung Palace became known as the Eastern Palace en bloc and Gyeonghuigung Palace as the Western Palace.

Reconstruction of Gyeongbokgung Palace in the Late Nineteenth Century

When King Gojong (r. 1863–1907) ascended the throne in 1863 at the young age of eleven, his father, the regent Heungseon Daewongun, took a high-profile role in politics after having been alienated in the power struggle for a long time. The Daewongun (literally, the "prince of the great court") moved decisively to close down the nation's private Neo-Confucian academies (seowon), the stronghold of the aristocratic bureaucrats who had long suppressed the royal power. But first he set out to reconstruct Gyeongbokgung Palace, which had been barren for nearly 250 years despite its status as the main palace. The reconstruction of the palace had a symbolic meaning: it showed that the Daewongun was determined to recover the centralized royal power that the early-Joseon-period kings had enjoyed.

The Daewongun's effort to recover the royal power, however, met strong challenges. Having been isolated from the outside world for a long time, Joseon was under increasing pressure to open its doors to neighboring Japan as well as to the United States, Britain, France, and Russia. Because those powers were armed with strong military forces, Joseon had no choice but to open its doors. Western and Japanese government officials visited Gyeongbokgung Palace and demanded unequal trade with the Joseon government. China and Japan intensified their political meddling in the domestic affairs of Joseon. Japan, as a rising superpower, attempted to put the brakes on China's influence, which had long impacted Joseon politics. After Japan won the first Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), the island nation intensified its political intervention in the royal affairs of Joseon. All these political fluctuations happened on the stage of Gyeongbokgung Palace.

The Great Han Empire and the Construction of Gyeongungung Palace

In 1896, King Gojong left Gyeongbokgung Palace and temporarily moved to the Russian Consulate. The following year, he moved to Gyeongungung Palace—what is now Deoksugung Palace—adjacent to the U.S. Consulate. Located near the center of the capital, Gyeongungung Palace had been used as a living quarters for royal family members since the sixteenth century. Once he had relocated there, King Gojong proclaimed Joseon and empire and appointed himself emperor to express the will of full autonomy at home and abroad. He refurbished Gyeongungung Palace on a grand scale befitting an emperor's palace. He also constructed a Western-style building inside the palace.

Emperor Gojong needed to rely on Russia to keep Japan's increasing intervention in check. As Russia also wanted to reaffirm its presence in East Asia, it confronted Japan. Eventually, the two sides plunged into war, and Japan won. After the victory, Japan openly intervened in the domestic affairs of Joseon. At last, Gojong abdicated, passing on the emperor's throne to his son Sunjong (r. 1907–1910), and retreated to Gyeongungung Palace. Emperor Sunjong, the last monarch of Joseon, moved to Changdeokgung Palace. In 1910, the third year of his reign, Joseon was forcibly annexed to Japan and fell under Japanese colonial rule.

Infokorea 2016
Infokorea is Korea introduced a magazine designed for readers with an interest in Korea and other foreign producers textbooks and teachers. Infokorea is the author of textbooks or foreign editors and reference to textbooks, Korea provides the latest information that teachers can use in teaching resources. Infokorea also provides cultural, social and historical topics featured in Korea. The theme of the 2016 issue was overview of Korea's palaces.