Gyeongbokgung: The Main Palace of Joseon

Gyeongbokgung was the principal palace of Joseon. The most useful thing to know before you walk in is not the buildings — it is how many times those buildings disappeared and were put back.

Opening hours, admission and access are on Gyeongbokgung's own place page. This article is about why the courtyard in front of you looks the way it does.

At a glance

It was not large at first
At its founding the palace was around 390 bays — not a large compound.
Burned 1592, empty for 270 years
The palace burned down entirely in the Imjin War, and reconstruction was completed in 1867, some 270 years later.
Rebuilt at 7,225½ bays
It was rebuilt on a scale far exceeding the size and formality of any other palace, with a palace wall 1,765 bays long.
Some 4,000 bays after 1910
Halls and pavilions amounting to about 4,000 bays were pulled down and sold off privately.

The first Gyeongbokgung was small

This is the fact you miss if you judge by the present scale.

At its founding the palace was around 390 bays — not large. The throne hall, Geunjeongjeon, was five bays, with upper and lower terraces, corridors, Geunjeongmun, passageways and corner towers, plus Gangnyeongjeon at seven bays, Yeonsaengjeon at three, Gyeongseongjeon at three, and the king's everyday office, Bopyeongcheong, at five — together with offices such as the Sangui-won, the Jungchu-won and the Samgunbu.

It was built immediately after the move to Hanyang, so it is more accurate to read it as as much palace as the new dynasty could manage.

In 1553 a fire that began in Gangnyeongjeon destroyed most of the halls north of Geunjeongjeon, and the following year Gyotaejeon, Yeonsaengjeon, Heumgyeonggak and Sajeongjeon were restored along with Gangnyeongjeon.

270 years — the empty stretch

In 1592 the palace burned down entirely in the Imjin War. Changdeokgung and Changgyeonggung burned too, so when the war ended and the king returned to the capital, the old house of Prince Wolsan in Jeongneung-dong was designated as a temporary residence. That is how today's Deoksugung became a palace.

Reconstruction kept being deferred. The question was discussed from immediately after the war but was never acted on, and Seonjo ordered at least temporary structures to be put up. In 1606 a palace construction office was established with a plan to build at least the main structures — Gwanghwamun and Geunjeongjeon — but when some ministers dissuaded him, saying that "the work is so large it cannot be finished in a year or two, so it should be begun later," it was not carried out.

So reconstruction was completed in 1867, some 270 years after the palace was destroyed. The work began in 1865 and was finished at the end of 1867.

Throughout that time the palace the kings actually lived in was Changdeokgung. That Gyeongbokgung was the "principal palace" and yet stood empty for so long is half the reason Seoul has five palaces.

The reconstruction, and twenty-eight years

The rebuilt Gyeongbokgung was far larger than the original.

Through the strong will of the Grand Dowager Queen, then acting as regent, it was rebuilt on a scale far exceeding the size and formality of any other palace. It came to 7,225 and a half bays, with 256 bays of halls in the rear garden including Yungmundang, and a palace wall 1,765 bays long. Against the roughly 390 bays of the original, that is close to twentyfold.

Once the palace was complete, the king moved into Gyeongbokgung in 1868.

But the period in which it served as the king's residence was short. In 1895 Empress Myeongseong was assassinated inside the palace, and in 1896 — the twenty-seventh year after the move — the king transferred his residence to the Russian legation, leaving Gyeongbokgung an empty palace without its master.

A palace that had been waited for over 270 years stood empty again after twenty-eight.

What was taken down — and what you are standing on

What happened after the loss of sovereignty is what produced the wide empty courtyards you see.

When sovereignty was lost in 1910, the Japanese pulled down halls, buildings and pavilions amounting to some 4,000 bays and sold them off privately. And when a fire broke out in Changdeokgung's inner quarters in 1917, they dismantled Gyeongbokgung's Gyotaejeon, Gangnyeongjeon, Yeongildang, Gyeongseongjeon, Yeonsaengjeon, Heumgyeonggak, Hamwonjeon and Heungbokjeon, and used the timber to build Changdeokgung's Daejojeon and Huijeongdang.

What remained was little more than Geunjeongjeon, Sajeongjeon, Sujeongjeon, Cheonchujeon, Jibokjae and Gyeonghoeru, together with Geunjeongmun, Hongnyemun, Sinmumun and Dongsipjagak, and the main gate, Gwanghwamun, was itself relocated to the north of Geonchunmun.

Then the decisive one. A very large stone Government-General building was put up directly in front of Geunjeongjeon, the palace's central structure, completely hiding it.

The ground you walk over passing through Gwanghwamun and Heungnyemun is where that building stood. The former Government-General building was demolished in 1995 for the fiftieth anniversary of liberation, and the Heungnyemun precinct that had originally occupied the site was restored and completed in October 2001.

How to tell what you are looking at

This is the most useful distinction to carry around Gyeongbokgung.

The main buildings surviving in the palace today are Geunjeongmun, Geunjeongjeon, Sajeongjeon, Cheonchujeon, Sujeongjeon, Jagyeongjeon, Gyeonghoeru, Jaesugak, Hamhwadang, Hyangwonjeong, Jibokjae and Seonwonjeon; the reconstructed ones include Gangnyeongjeon, Jaseondang, Taewonjeon and Gwanghwamun.

Geunjeongjeon is a National Treasure, designated in 1985 — a grand two-storey building of five bays on the front and five on the side, as befits the throne hall of the dynasty's principal palace. But its style belongs to the late Joseon period, with pronounced decorative treatment in the detail. That is to say, it is a nineteenth-century building, not a fourteenth-century one.

What makes the palace matter anyway is its position. The encyclopedia records as its value that although most of the buildings were lost and many halls are reconstructions, it holds the position it had at its founding.

Nineteenth-century buildings on a fourteenth-century site. Carry that one line in and the visit changes.

Stand in front of Geunjeongjeon and turn around. The palace's main axis still follows the layout established when Gyeongbokgung was founded. The buildings standing on it have been pulled down and put back many times over; the line they sit on has not moved.

Worth seeing alongside

Frequently asked questions

How old are the buildings at Gyeongbokgung today?

Mostly nineteenth-century. After the palace burned down entirely in 1592, about 270 years passed before reconstruction began in 1865 and was completed at the end of 1867.

Why did it stand empty for 270 years?

Reconstruction was discussed from just after the war but never acted on. A construction office was set up in 1606 to build at least Gwanghwamun and Geunjeongjeon, but ministers argued the work was too large to finish in a year or two and it was not carried out.

How big was Gyeongbokgung originally?

About 390 bays at its founding — not large. The 1867 reconstruction came to 7,225 and a half bays, with a palace wall alone of 1,765 bays.

What was lost during the colonial period?

After 1910, halls and pavilions amounting to some 4,000 bays were pulled down and sold privately, and in 1917 Gyotaejeon, Gangnyeongjeon and others were dismantled for timber to build Changdeokgung's Daejojeon and Huijeongdang. A Government-General building was erected in front of Geunjeongjeon, hiding it completely.

Was there a Government-General building where Heungnyemun is?

Yes. The former Government-General building was demolished in 1995 for the fiftieth anniversary of liberation, and the Heungnyemun precinct that had originally stood there was restored and completed in October 2001.