This is the main gate (first of 3) and entrance into Gyeongbokgung. Gung means palace, and gyeong bok literally means shining happiness.. ergo: palace of shining happiness. It was originally built by King Taejo in 1395 and in its heyday was said to rival the Forbidden City in Beijing. However, like everything in Korea, it's unfortunately been burnt down more than once and had to continually be rebuilt. Only a dozen or so buildings remain, but according to our tour guide they are in a constant process of trying to rebuild and replicate the entire palace.
Because of Buddha's Birthday and the Hi Seoul festival they had a ceremonial changing of the guards... which I have come to accept as basically the same in every city in every country in the world (that I've been to, anyway). Basically: there's a signal that the replacement guard is coming, there are some people sanding guard to be sure there's no foul play, some dudes exchange notes and passwords etc. and update each other about whatever it is they are guarding, someone hits a drum or blows a horn to let everyone know that the guards are changing and to basically call "all well," and then they go home. You now never have to watch a changing of the guard again - at least not a historical reenactment of one.
This is where the King held his parties. His guests entered from the gates in the wall to the right. There were three they could pass through - depending on their social status of course. The pillars supporting the "party hall" are designed for good feng shui. The outer pillars are square (representing the Earth) and the inner pillars are round (representing the sky/heavens). It's cool to see how intricately these details are included in the designs of the palaces. Everything is designed to compliment the king, both to flatter his ego (one could say) and to ensure his health, safety, longevity of life, and a (male) heir.
The animals one finds on the corner of roofs is another favorite trademark of mine in Asian architecture. There is always an odd number of animals on the corners of important buildings to protect the inhabitants and invoke blessings - you could say .... they basically served similar purposes to gothic gargoyles. From what I have learned, the Koreans were very superstitious and odd numbers were better than even ones. You can tell which buildings are most important because they will have more animal protectors. The typical numbers you will see are 5 and 7 .. on important buildings there could be 9 and on places imprtant to the king likely there would be 11 or 13.
Our tour guide. She was really sweet. :)
Me in front of the main throne room, where the king would receive guests etc.
This was the king's main throne room. The painting behind the throne is a folding screen and it was moved to wherever the king was going to be. It incorporates a lot of traditional Asian imagery, including mountains in the background for strength and protections, water in the foreground for a clear mind. There's also significance to the number of things and the colors in the picture ... but I can't remember what they are. haha.
Images of a mythical dragon-type creatures are typical of Korean royal decor, but this one is unique in that it has seven talons as opposed to five or three. It is the only one they have found to be that way - but Korean historians don't have a clue as to what its significance is because all of their written history has been lost to one fire or another during the time of Japanese occupation.
They hung the doors of the buildings up on these bars to store them during warm weather. In the winter they hung them up and attactched hinges so that they could be pushed open and closed, kind of like accordions....or something. The point is: instead of windows or worrying about summer and winter insulation - they just took the doors off.
This was just some pagoda that was on the grounds - I'm sure it's some sort of meditation spot or something.
Because of Buddha's Birthday and the Hi Seoul festival they had a ceremonial changing of the guards... which I have come to accept as basically the same in every city in every country in the world (that I've been to, anyway). Basically: there's a signal that the replacement guard is coming, there are some people sanding guard to be sure there's no foul play, some dudes exchange notes and passwords etc. and update each other about whatever it is they are guarding, someone hits a drum or blows a horn to let everyone know that the guards are changing and to basically call "all well," and then they go home. You now never have to watch a changing of the guard again - at least not a historical reenactment of one.
This is where the King held his parties. His guests entered from the gates in the wall to the right. There were three they could pass through - depending on their social status of course. The pillars supporting the "party hall" are designed for good feng shui. The outer pillars are square (representing the Earth) and the inner pillars are round (representing the sky/heavens). It's cool to see how intricately these details are included in the designs of the palaces. Everything is designed to compliment the king, both to flatter his ego (one could say) and to ensure his health, safety, longevity of life, and a (male) heir.
The animals one finds on the corner of roofs is another favorite trademark of mine in Asian architecture. There is always an odd number of animals on the corners of important buildings to protect the inhabitants and invoke blessings - you could say .... they basically served similar purposes to gothic gargoyles. From what I have learned, the Koreans were very superstitious and odd numbers were better than even ones. You can tell which buildings are most important because they will have more animal protectors. The typical numbers you will see are 5 and 7 .. on important buildings there could be 9 and on places imprtant to the king likely there would be 11 or 13.
Our tour guide. She was really sweet. :)
Me in front of the main throne room, where the king would receive guests etc.
This was the king's main throne room. The painting behind the throne is a folding screen and it was moved to wherever the king was going to be. It incorporates a lot of traditional Asian imagery, including mountains in the background for strength and protections, water in the foreground for a clear mind. There's also significance to the number of things and the colors in the picture ... but I can't remember what they are. haha.
Images of a mythical dragon-type creatures are typical of Korean royal decor, but this one is unique in that it has seven talons as opposed to five or three. It is the only one they have found to be that way - but Korean historians don't have a clue as to what its significance is because all of their written history has been lost to one fire or another during the time of Japanese occupation.
They hung the doors of the buildings up on these bars to store them during warm weather. In the winter they hung them up and attactched hinges so that they could be pushed open and closed, kind of like accordions....or something. The point is: instead of windows or worrying about summer and winter insulation - they just took the doors off.
This was just some pagoda that was on the grounds - I'm sure it's some sort of meditation spot or something.I really enjoyed this palace and would reccommend it to anyone visiting Seoul. It's the largest one and has a great sample of Korean architecture, history, etc etc. I'm going back on Friday to show Matt around, and get a better view of the Blue House (Korean Presidential residence) than I did before and to visit the Folk Museum, which I didn't get a chance to do. So I will post more pictures and info next time.
3 comments:
Great Post! I learned so much! Have fun with Matt!
Very cool! Educational and interesting. I love the jumping picture (:
Hey! I've been there! It was shiny...and happy...
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