Gyeongbokgung
— — a palace the city rebuilt itself around.
Not only on a wall.
“The main palace of the Joseon kings, first raised in 1395 at the foot of Bugaksan, burnt to the ground in the 1592 invasion, and rebuilt under the regent Heungseon Daewongun in 1867. The Japanese occupation tore most of it down again; modern South Korea has put it back, gate by gate, hall by hall, since 1990. The guard-changing ceremony at Gwanghwamun still keeps the old hours of the court.
Gyeongbokgung, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Gyeongbokgung sits at the northern end of Sejong-daero in central Seoul, with Bugaksan rising behind it and Gwanghwamun, the main south gate, opening onto the modern boulevard. It was founded in 1395 by King Taejo, the first ruler of the Joseon dynasty, three years after he moved the capital from Kaesong to Hanyang, the city that became Seoul. The palace was the political centre of Korea for two centuries, until the Japanese invasions of 1592 left it in ruins for the next 273 years before any serious reconstruction was attempted.
The throne hall, Geunjeongjeon, sits on a two-tiered stone platform marked with the rank stones at which officials stood for audience, and is the largest surviving wooden building in Korea. To its northwest, the Gyeonghoeru pavilion stands on forty-eight granite columns over a rectangular lotus pond, used by the court for state banquets and foreign delegations. The Heungseon Daewongun's 1867 reconstruction enclosed roughly 432,000 square metres and held over 330 buildings; the present site holds about 40 percent of that count after a long restoration begun in 1990.
The palace opens daily except Tuesday, when most national heritage sites in Seoul close for upkeep. The royal guard-changing ceremony at Gwanghwamun runs twice each day, at 10 and 14, in costumes researched from Joseon court records. On the last Wednesday of each month admission is free, and visitors wearing hanbok, the traditional Korean dress, enter without charge on any day; rental shops outside the gate keep steady trade. The National Palace Museum on the southwest of the grounds holds the throne, the royal seal, and the dynasty's official portraits.