Gyeongbok Palace

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Gyeongbok Palace was built as the primary palace of the Chosun Kingdom by its founder, King Taejo, in 1395, the fourth year of his reign. It was destroyed during the Japanese invasion of 1592 and left in ruins for over 250 years. Starting in 1865, it was rebuilt to its original grandeur. When Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910, most of the 200 buildings on the palace grounds were torn down by the Japanese, leaving only a dozen structures. Since 1996, Korea has been actively restoring the palace to its original grandeur.

It is a bright, sunny morning in 1966. A young mother and her three small children have packed a picnic lunch and come here. The young mother brings her children here often, for it was a pleasant place to have a picnic. Her ten-year-old daughter had learned that this was a throne room for some king or other. Yet it looks worn. The colors are fading. Other than it being a large room, there is not too much to look at. I remember thinking, “What is so special about this room?”

I am visiting it again today, September 28, 2008. A beautiful wall encloses the Royal Gyeongbok Palace. As I enter its courtyard, I see in front of me the royal throne room. This is one building that I remember from so many years ago. The courtyard that leads into the throne room is large and so beautifully restored. All the important officials would be lined up, creating a human wall on either side. There would be hundreds of officials, with the most important persons nearer to the king. The six most highly esteemed scribes would be directly before the king. This is where all the political affairs of the kingdom took place.

Behind the throne room, through a majestic gate, is the King’s residence. We are allowed to go in, take pictures, and then exit through the back door, passing through another gate to the queen’s residence. Behind the queen’s residence, through yet another gate, is the royal residence of princes and princesses. My imagination runs freely to those romantic times of royalty with beautiful scenes of pomp and circumstance. I commented, “I don’t see a kitchen in these magnificent buildings.”

We are just in time for the Royal Archery Competition. We watch the reenactment of this important event. All the notorious archers from the land would come in their formal robes and demonstrate their skill before the king. The whole event is explained in Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and English.