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Today, I went to Deoksu Palace, originally Gyeongun Palace. Gyeongun Palace is famous for stone-wall road. There is a story about stone-wall road. Many people or adults say that a couple parting when they walk through the stone-wall road. However, it is not true. A courthouse was located behind the stone-wall road, so we must pass the stone-wall road to go to a courthouse. As a result, divoring coupled and divorced couple walked here, so lots of people thought that couple was parting after they walked through the stone-wall road. Anyway, I will start introuducing Gyeongun Palace.
Do you know the main gate of Gyeongun Palace? The main gate of Gyeongungung is Daehanmun(대한문)Before Daehanmun, the name of the main gate was Inhwamun(인화문). After Inhwamun, the main gate was change to Daeanmun(대안문) and it became Daehanmun, nowadays. Gyoengungung was originally the private house for King 성종's older brother,월산대군. Now, I will tell you about my favorite places. I chose three buildings, Junghwajeon(중화전), Seokeodang(석어당) and Jeonggwangheon(정관헌). I will introuduce it.
First, 중화전 main buliding of palace, because official events were held here. In front of 중화전, there is a three road to go to 중화전. Middle road was for king and means protects from evil spirits. Right side of king was military officers and left side was civil officers. Also, there is rank stones for officers or servants. There is a level of officers. Person who stands in a front is very very high person. In addition, there is a Dapdo(답도), which king goes with palanquin.The pheonix iis carved in it. Next to Dapdo,there is Haechi sculptures, which means protect from evil spirits. When I saw that, I thought that Joseon dynasty of Korean Empire was superstitious. Next to the 중화전, there is a 드므, where it stores water and protect from fire. When you see the ceiling of the 중화전 you can see the dragon ridge. You can see the 단청 at the top of the 중화전. 단청 is Korean traditional tile. It is consist of five colors. White, Black, Green or Blue, Yellow, and Red. White means metal and Friday, Black means water and Wednesday, Green or Blue means Tree and Thursday, Yellow means Earth and Saturday, and Red means fire and Tuesday. When you go inside the 중화전, you can see the King's throne. Behind the throne,there is a screen called 일월오봉도. Sun means King, Moon means Queen, Five mountains or hills means Korea land, Pine tree means officers and water, the sea means common people.
Second, I will tell about 석어당. It is the only place that has two-story buildings in Gyeongungung. It has some sad stories. 인수대비 was locked here by the 광해군.
Lastly, I will tell you about Jeonggwangheon( 정관헌). 정관헌 is where Gojong enjoyed coffee. But, Emperor Gojong drank coffee in a interesting story. He and his officers poured coffee and swallow by the way. Also, it was a place for Gojong's relaxation. When I heard a story about Gojong and Coffee, on the other hand, I thought that Gojong was greedy, because Gojong drank the coffee just for him and his officers. Also, Gojong could share coffee to people.
I was very interested about Gyeongungung and I realized that Gojong wanted to change to country and also I realized that Gojong was very clever, because I thought that Gojong wanted to change the country and globalize the country. I thought that we have to learn history very well, because when Japan argue that Korea's history is theirs and we can save our history if we know history well. I decided to participate well in historical class. It was memorable trip. |
