Introduction

Seoul is filled with many palaces that are all a little unique in their own way and worth checking out.  However, what makes the relatively small Deoksu Palace stand out among the rest of the palaces is that it has to be the most accessible palace in the nation’s capitol due to its location in central Seoul.

Deoksu Palace, known as Deoksugung in Korean, is located directly across the street from the Seoul City Hall in downtown Seoul:

It is impossible to miss the entrance to the palace due to the fact that the Daehanmun Gate is easily visible from City Hall:

I recommend before going inside the palace to see the royal changing of the guard ceremony that happens in front of the palace at regular times during the week:

Video of the ceremony can be viewed here.

The entrance fee to go inside the palace is a 1,000 won or about $1 dollar and is a self guided tour, which is the way I prefer to explore these palaces compared to the guided tours that visitors are forced to take at the UNESCO World Heritage listed Changdeok Palace also in Seoul.

Early History of Deoksu Palace

Deoksu Palace started out originally as a royal villa for a Korean prince in 1454, but became the residence for the Korean King during the Japanese Hideyoshi invasion of Korea.  During the invasion the other royal palaces in Seoul were destroyed forcing King Seonjo to move into the villa in 1593.

Portrail depicting Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea.

The villa officially became a royal palace in 1611 when King Gwanghaegun, who succeeded King Seongjo, officially declared Deoksugung a palace.  King Gwanghaegun is considered one of the greatest rulers of Korea because as a prince during the Hideyoshi Invasion of Korea he led the defenses of the capitol city Seoul while his dad King Seonjo fled the city to the safety of Ming China.  Gwanghaegun’s actions contributed to the successful expulsion of the Japanese from the city allowing King Seonjo to return in 1593.  The Japanese were completely expelled from the peninsula after their final strategic defeat coming at the hands of legendary Korean admiral Yi Sun-shin and his famous turtle boats in 1597.

Admiral Yi Sun-shin's turtle boat

Deoksugung was no longer the royal palace after King Gwanghaegun was dethroned in 1623, because the kings that succeeded him moved the royal palace to the newly constructed and much grander Changdeok Palace in Seoul.

Since the palace was just originally a royal villa, that explains why the palace is significantly smaller then the other major royal palaces in Seoul:

Here is how this small palace looks from Google Earth:

Chunghwajeon

Chunghwajeon is the main throne room of the palace and where King Gojong declared himself Emperor of Korea after he made the palace his royal residence in 1897:

Gyeongbok Palace had been the prior residence of the King but he fled from the palace in 1895 and sought refuge at the Russian Legation near Deoksu Palace after Japanese henchmen murdered Queen Min.

Korean King Gojong

The outside eaves of Chunghwajeon are of course decorated with the beautiful Korean royal color patterns:

Here is the throne room inside of Chunghwajeon:

The throne room is actually very similar to other throne rooms I have seen at the other palaces in Seoul.  For example here is how the throne room of Changdeok Palace looks like:

Something unique about the throne room though is the elaborate roof that features these two quite ornate dragons:

Chukjodang, Chunmyongdang, and Sogodang Halls

Located directly behind the royal throne are the Chunmyongdang and Sogodang Halls:

Chunmyongdang hall (rear building above) was used for awhile as the royal residence of King Gojong.  He met foreign dignitaries here occassionally before entertaining them at the nearby Jeonggwanun building.

King Gojong wearing a military uniform.

Chunmyongdang is connected to Chukjodang hall by an elevated wooden corridor.  Chukjodang Hall is where after King Gojong was forced to abdicate his throne by the Japanese, his son Sunjong succeeded him to the throne.

King Sunjong

Sunjong would rule as a puppet King until 1910 when the Japanese annexed Korea and confined Sunjong in Changdeok Palace where he ultimately ended up dying at in 1926.

Sogodang Hall is located behind and slightly to the right of the throne room and is the only two story traditional Korean architechtural building on the palace grounds:

The building was built in 1593 by King Seonjo and was used originally to commemorate his father who he succeeded to the throne.  King Seonjo after the war with Japan wanted to appoint Gwanghaegun due to his performance during the war to become the Crown Prince, but the Ming Chinese, which Korea became a protectorate of, would not approve of the selection because his older brother was still alive and should be King instead.

In 1600 King Seonjo’s wife died and he decided to take a new Queen, Inmok who gave birth to a son, Yeongchang in 1606.  This son now had legal claim to become crown prince since he was born to the current Queen even though he was younger then Seonjo’s other sons.  However, King Seonjo changed his mind and decided to push to make Gwanghaegun the crown prince again instead, which set off a power struggle in the palace.

Ultimately Inmok’s son would be murdered and Queen Inmok inprisoned in Sogodang Hall when Gwanghaegun took power as King.  Visitors to Deoksugung can look into Sogodang and see that it is not that big, but that is where Queen Inmok spent years of house arrest  in:

Queen Inmok would ultimately have the last laugh though when through a coup, King Gwanghaegun was disposed and ended up being put under house arrest in this very same building in 1623.  The plotters that committed the coup were angered at what Gwanghaegun had done to Queen Inmok and her son, but the final straw for them was how Gwanghaegun handled the nation’s foreign policy with Ming China and the Manchus.

Gwanghaegun had tried to keep relations friendly with both countries when the nation had traditionally held a stringent pro-Ming China foreign policy.  The new King that was installed took pro-Ming and anti-Manchu policy stances, which ultimately led to the devestating Manchu invasion of Korea.  Gwanghaegun would eventually be removed from Sogodang and transfered into exile at first Gangwha Island then finally Cheju Island where he died in 1641 after seeing his country devestated by two separate Manchu invasions of Korea that he worked so hard to prevent.

Hamnyongjon Hall

In one corner of the place lies Hamnyongjon Hall which was the official residence of Korean King Gojong:

Hamnyongjon is actually surrounded on two sides with buildings where court ladies lived that took care of the King’s cooking and cleaning, while King Gojong lived in the detached building in the middle that was constructed for him in 1897:

The inside of the King’s living quarters was quite nice, but not nearly as elaborate as you would expect a King to be living in:

Of course the interior of the King’s quarters is heated by the unique Korean ondol system:

The outside of the King’s residence is edged with the beautiful Korean royal colors:

Near the King’s living quarters is the newest structure on the palace grounds, Deokhonjeon that was constructed in 1911 as a shrine to Queen Min, but was converted into a banquet hall for King Gojong to receive honored guests.  The interior of this building is quite exquisite:

The outside of this building is also quite colorful as well:

The roof of this building like many other royal structures in Korea is decorated with various characters of Chinese mythology:

Jeonggwanhun

From his living quarters the King Gojong could easily walk to Jeonggwahun which was the King’s favorite place to relax in the palace.  Jeonggwahun is definitely the most unique building on the grounds of the palace.  It is tucked away in some trees towards the back of the palace.  What makes this structure so unique is that it is the first royal building in Korea to be composed of both Korean and Western architectural styles:

The building was first constructed in 1900 and was frequently used by King Gojong to entertain guests at.  He also liked to sit here in the morning and drink his tea or coffee in the wide open air seating area in front of the building:

In the picture above the bar that served the King and his guests can be seen as well.  Since the building was located near the rear of the palace, behind it was a secret passage that could take the King to the nearby Russian Legation in case of trouble.

From Jeonggwahun King Gojong could pass through this nicely constructed gate and return to the other areas of the palace that were not so relaxing and filled with work and intrigue:

Seokjojeon Hall

The buildings that stick out on these palaces grounds more then any other are without a doubt each wing of the Seokjojeon Hall constructed completely in Western style achitecture:

In 1905 a British man by the name of John McLevy Brown began construction of Seokjojeon.  However, Brown was not able to complete his project due to the fact that the Japanese acquired the property rights to the area in 1905 due to the fact they won the Russo-Japanese War.  This led the Japanese to finish construction of the building themselves in 1909.

Today the two wings of the hall house palace treasures and art collections that are worth checking out if you are visiting the palace anyway:

Other Things to See

Some other things that can be seen on the palace grounds is this water clock known as Borugak Jagyeongnu:

This water clock is quite old since it was constructed in 1536.  The water clock told time by using water to fill containers at set times which would then through a clever lever system device activate gongs to tell people the current time.

Another item is this Singijeon launcher system:

This system was first developed in 1448 and was used to launch iron tipped bamboo arrows powered by small packets of gunpowder tied to the arrow’s end.  This early rocket artillery system could launch these arrows to a maximum distance of 100 meters.

Conclusion

As can be seen Deoksu Palace is small, but is an interesting place worth putting on the itinerary of anyone visiting downtown Seoul.  Just seeing the royal changing of the guard ceremony is worth a trip to the palace in and of itself.  For those who enjoy learning about Korean history then the palace is a must visit location.  The history of King Gwanghaegun who first called the palace home and King Gojong who last called the palace home are extremely interesting and important parts of Korean history that took place at this now unoccuppied and dusty palace.

Quick Review of Deoksugung:
Must See During A Tour to Korea?: No. If you only want to see one palace in Seoul I recommend Kyeongbokgung
Recommended: Yes. If you have the chance definitely check this place out especially if you are visiting downtown Seoul anyway.
Cost: 1,000 won
Location: Take subway to City Hall and simply exit the subway and walk across the street to the palace.  This place is extremely easy to find.
Notes: Make sure to watch the changing of the guard ceremony that takes place at the front gate of the palace.
Further Reading: The Marmot’s Hole, Palaces of Korea, Life in Korea, New World Encyclopedia