SEOUL VACATION - GYEONGBOKBUNG PALACE

GYEONGBOKBUNG  PALACE

Gyeoungbokgung Palace was the royal and governmental center of ancient Seoul. It was where King Sejong ruled and ran his kingdom.

Gyeongokbung was established sometime in the 1300’s but parts have since been destroyed, reconstructed, burned, and resurrected several times. A lot of this was perpetrated by Japan in the 1500s – 1700s. 

Gyeongokbung, as a location, has a lot of history. Most notably it is the site where King Sejong created the written Korean language called “hangul” that is still used today.

Where hangul was created

 It is also the site of where Japanese assassins broke in and murdered Korean’s monarch, an empress, as part of a government take over.

Most the Gyeongokbung grounds had been rebuilt to its current state back in the 1850’s, but it did sustain some damage in the Korean War.

Regardless, the palace grounds are similar to many palace grounds: this is where the government administrative offices were, this is where they would meet for meetings, this is where the kings mistress’ lived, this is where the king bathed and would spa, this is where the king would do his thinking, this is where the king’s mother stayed.

Most notable was the well in the back, which supplied water to everyone on the palace grounds.