South Korea: A Photographic Tour

South Korea

2002

Seoul 서울

Changgyeonggung 창경궁

Changgyeonggung

Changgyeonggung was originally a Goryeo Dynasty summer palace, built 1104. In the early 1390s, the first Yi king, Taejo,
lived here while Gyeongbokgung was completed. During the Japanese occupation, the palace was demoted to a park.

Changgyeonggung

Changdeokgung 창덕궁

Changdeokgung Exterior

Injeongjeon is the main hall of Changdeokgung. The palace was built in 1405 as the detached palace of Gyeongbokgung which was
the mainpalace of the Yi (Joseon) Dynasty. In 1412, the palace was completed with the construction of the main gate at Donhwamun.
King Sejo then expanded the palace to about 110 acres. In 1592, during the Japanese invasion, most of the palace buildings were
destroyed by fire. The reconstruction of the palace was started by King Seonjo, and completed by King Gwanghaegun in 1610.

Changdeokgung Guards

Guards at Donhwamun, the main gate, was originally built in 1412. Rebuilt in 1607, it is the oldest two-story wooden gate in Seoul.

Changdeokgung Interior

Inside Injeongjeon, the main hall.

Changdeokgung Interior

Changdeokgung Garden

Changdeokgung Sundial

Gyeongbokgung 경복궁

Gyeongbokgung

Gyeongbokgung was built by the first Yi Dynasty king Taejo when he relocated the capital to Seoul. The palace was the hub of
royal power, and the royal residence for around 200 years. Before the Japanese Hideyoshi invasion, the grounds housed some
500 buildings, but most were destroyed during the Japanese onslaught of 1592. The palace was neglected until an ambitious
recosntruction scheme commenced during the reign of King Gojong. By 1872, some 200 buildings had been completed.
However, only ten buildings survived the combination of the Japanese occupation and the Korean War.

Gyeongbokgung Gate

Deoksugung 덕수궁

Deoksugung Procession

The changing of the guard ceremony is performed daily.

Deoksugung Courtyard

Deoksugung was built in the mid-15th century by King Sejo for his grandson, Prince Wolson. It has twice served temporarily
as the royal abode: once for 15 years, after Hideyoshi's 1592 sacking of Seoul; and on a second occasion, from 1897 to 1907
when King Gojong made it his residence when he emerged from a year-long asylum in the Russian legation.

Jongmyo 종묘

Jongmyo

The royal shrine of Jongmyo was built concurrently with Gyeongbokgung to enshrine the ancestral tablets of the first Yi king,
Taejo. With the exception of two kings of disrepute, the ancestral tabets of all 27 Yi kings are enshrined here.

Unhyeongung 운현궁

Unhyeon Palace

Unhyeon Palace was the private residence of Prince Regent Heungseon Daewon-gun, the
father of King Kojong, who lived here until the age of twelve when he rose to the throne.

Unhyeon Palace