The initial plan was to visit Gyeongbukgung (Line 3, exit 5) today since it will allows us to catch up on some sleep from the previous trip to Jeongdongjin.
It will starts our actual tour in Seoul but alas! I didn't notice the fine print on my guide book that the palace is closed on Tuesday since I half expect it to be always open. Mr Love was a bit irritated that I missed out on this information and seems like we made a waste trip here.
Luckily for me, the National Palace Museum of Korea which is right beside of Gyeongbukgong is open and it allows free admission! Seems like we didn't wasted the travel here after all.
The museum opened in 1992 and it displays relics from the Joseon Dynasty. Actually it is later then we realised that the palaces' royal relics are all displayed here and what is left in the palaces are the buildings only.
So depending what you are interested in, you may wanna drop by here instead of the palaces.
The 1st exhibition we went to is Kings of Joseon Dynasty where ideology of the dynasty and how the dynasty was formed was introduced.
It also showcased how the kings or future kings were educated from a young age based on the beliefs of how a successful king should behave. This is not unlike to the Chinese dynasties.
The main attraction of this exhibition hall is the King's throne where it used be placed in the center of main hall. The king will be seated here during state affairs and in audiences with his subjects.
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| Royal throne |
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| Beautiful flowers that caught my attention instead |
Also on displayed are the textbooks that the royals are educated in. The interesteing thing is, it is all in Chinese writings though I couldn't understand the sentences. I guess the way words are phased back then are really different from now.
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| Textbooks for the royals |
Then we saw the royal seals which were engraved with various titles and presented to the Kings during their lifetime or after their deaths.
Some titles included honorfic titles which is to praise their achievements and virtue. Posthumous titles reflects the deeds of the king during his lifetime. Chinese emperor's Shrine titles are presented upon enshrinement of the deceased King's ceremonial tablet after 3 years of morning. Lastly the posthumous honorfic titles are presented in reflection of the deceased kings' reign. Again, these are similar to Chinese Dynasties practices.
The only difference is, Chinese kings' seal comes with Dragons on top of the seal while Korean version comes with turtles.
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| Golden seals |
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| Jade seals |
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| Seal boxes |
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| Silk cloth to wrap the seal |
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| How to keep a seal |
A new king will be appointed on the passing of the current ruler and therefore during the swearing in ceremony his ceremonial robe will need to be that of a mourning son.
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| Ceremonial robe for new King |
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| Ceremonial head gear |
The Genealogy of the Royal family records information of the royal clans It used to records list the names of the king's direct or half brothers. But King Taejong who is worried about conflicts over the throne split the genealogy into three parts and thus narrowing down the legitimate competitors to the throne.
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| Genealogy of the Royal family |
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| Casing to keep the records |
We also saw exhibitions of the Government officials' seals, workplace and many other artifacts used in Royal palace of the dynasty.
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| Seals of officials |
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| Library |
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| Map of old Seoul |
In the olden days, the most dreaded missharp would be fire breaking out in the palace where buildings are built mostly out of wood. Water are store in big containers outside the halls but Koreans still used quite a few talisman which they hope will guard against a fire.
The tailisman is usually engraved with the chinese character of Water which they believe would be able to guard against the fire.
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| Silver Talisman |
Interesting to see these as I always thought such superstition are unique to us Chinese only.
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| Tailisman that writes out Water |
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| Ceiling decorations of Dragons |
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| Ceiling decorations of Phoenix |
Last exhibition of this level would be the Royal court life. This is mainly focus on the life of women in the Royal palace. The Queen who is the primary wife of the King played the role of teaching proper Confucian conduct for all women in the palace and also wife of prominent officials who are given official ranks.
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| Robe of crown princess |
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| Shoes |
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| Robe of crown prince |
It is here that we learnt that while serving meals to the Royal family, there is a standard that you will have to follow. Meaning to say, the dishes are placed in standard positions while serving.
And they do serve alot of things during meal time. Wonder who can finish all these at one go?
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| Typical meal served in palace |
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| Side table |
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| Hot pot |
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| Standard serving instructions |
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| Kitchen |
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| Cosmetic of the olden days |
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| Vanity counter |
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| Hairband/ Hair Tie |
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| Hair ornaments |
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| Wig |
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| Ornaments |
Was hungry by the time we finished the exhibitions on this level and we decided to call it a day here. This was a pleasant surprise to visit since I did not plan to come here but we had gained knowledge and also saw some artifacts of the Joseon Dynasty that was unfamiliar prior to the visit.
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