I¡¯d like to explain about architectural aspects of the Unhyeongung palace.

Unhyeongung palace is actually not a big palace like Gyeongbokgung palace, but house of Heungsun Daewongun. It is one of the most well reserved Hanok of Seoul. It is extremely special since it was house of ¡°semi¡± king of Joseon. It shows every features that noblemen¡¯s house could have.

           Firstly, you should pass the gate to enter home. There¡¯s two kinds of gates: Lofty one and the Áß¹®. Lofty gate was named after its ¡°lofty¡± background. It is taller than any other usual gate, which enables nobleman to pass through the gate without stepping off from sedan chair or horse. On the other hand, Áß¹®¡¯s main users are servants or visitors. In order to pass the gate, you should duck, otherwise you¡¯ll get a big swell on your head. This can be shown bowing, shows humbleness, deference, and homage toward the owner of the house.

           Nextly, I¡¯ll talk about the buildings. Most hanok of noblemen is divided in two building, Saranchae and Anchae. In Unhyeongung palace, there are diverse Haengrangchae for servents, including Sujiksa. The most special feature of Unhyeongung palace is that it has two Anchaes, Norakdang and Irodang. Norakdang is the original one, but Empress Myeongsung and Emperor Gojong stayed there, so it couldn¡¯t be used. Since Heungsun Daewongun still needed Anchae for his wife, he built a new Anchae, Irodang. They are both square shaped, which is very closed structure.

           You may have seen the two chimneys at the outer part of Irodang. Those were used for Korean traditional heating system, Ondol. What do you think this is?

Maybe a fish bone? Not quite.

The red lines represents heat from ¾Æ±ÃÀÌ of kitchen. Why is heat so curvy at all? It is to keep the heat as long as we could. We use ¾Æ±ÃÀÌ to make dinner at early night. Since people want to sleep on warm floor, ondol¡¯s heat should be preserved until the early morning. In order to preserve the heat longer than usual, our ancestors made the heat to take the longer route.

           I mainly felt bit miserable when I heard that Unhyeongung palace is the only nobleman-owned-honok left in Seoul. I think we should do more to preserve the Korean peninsula¡¯s hanok.