Gyeongbokgung Palace

Seoul is home to no fewer than five palaces, but if there’s one you absolutely can’t miss, it’s this one, Gyeongbokgung Palace. The largest and most important in the city, it holds the same kind of symbolic weight here as Versailles does in France. Built during the reign of one of Korea’s most influential dynasties, the Joseon dynasty, it became the royal residence at the end of the 14th century. When construction began, the city, then called Hanyang, was chosen as the new capital by King Taejo, founder of the Joseon dynasty, which would rule for over two centuries. In the late 16th century, Japanese invasions ravaged the country, and the palace was largely destroyed by fire. Left in ruins, it was eventually replaced as the official royal residence by Changdeokgung Palace, a few kilometers away, which served the royal family until the 19th century. Under King Gojong in the 1860s, Gyeongbokgung was restored to its former grandeur, sprawling over 40 hectares and boasting more than 500 buildings, one of the most spectacular sites in all of Korea. Sadly, much of that heritage was lost again in the early 20th century, when Japan once more occupied the peninsula. The palace was dismantled, most of its buildings demolished, and the Japanese built their government headquarters here, remaining until their occupation ended in 1945. After Japan’s defeat in World War II, Korea was divided: the North occupied by the Soviet Union, the South by the United States. Although reunification was initially supported across the peninsula, Cold War tensions quickly led each side to establish its own government, and in 1948 the Republic of Korea was founded in the South, with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the North. As for Gyeongbokgung, it lay in ruins until 1989, when an ambitious restoration project began, faithfully following the original plans from before the Japanese occupation and using the traditional pagoda-style architecture. The work is still ongoing today, but step by step, Korea is bringing back one of its most iconic monuments, a proud symbol of its history.