What I learned at Chang Deok Palace

In-Jeong-Jeon: The In-Jeong-Jun serves as the main hall of the palace. Ceremonies such as coronations, marriages, and meeting foreign envoys occurred here. On top of the huge building are small stone statuettes called "Japsang". These figures were meant to chase evil spirits away.

Hui-Jung-Dang: The Hui-Jung-Dang was the King's sleeping chambers. The roof of the building doesn't have a special design called the dragon roof(which most of the other buildings have.) because the people of the Chosun Dynasty believed that the king was a dragon, and two dragons could not be in one place.

Dae-Jo-Jun: The Dae-Joe-Jun was the queen's sleeping chambers. The Dae-Jo-Jun was big and well-designed than the king's sleeping chambers, because in a way, the queen's sleeping chambers valued more than the King's sleeping chambers. The queen could not stay outside the chamber, while the king had more freedom and he moved around more often.

Seon-Jung-Jun: This building was where the king did most of his work. This building is special because of its roof. The blue color on the roof may seem normal, but in that time, it took a large amount of money to color the roof blue.

What I felt after the visit to

Chang Deok Palace

Chang Deok Palace, a UNESCO site of Korea, a famous tourist attraction with beautiful architecture that blends in with the surroundings. That was all I saw in Chang Deok Palace until the latest visit last Saturday, when I got a tour with some friends around Chang Deok Palace by Mariestory. I had a chance not just to look, but to know. I learned the true shape of Chang Deok Palace, not just its outlooks. Learning the backgrounds and stories behind each building gave me another view of this palace. The most surprising fact was that I was not looking at the original, more glorious palace it was back in the Chosun dynasty. After it was burnt down and rebuilt, it was tortured again as the period of the Japanese occupation began. As I was going around the palace, there were dents and reminders of the time Korea was under the control of Japan. Also, the beautiful rear gardens were called the secret gardens so that the Koreans would pay less attention to the wonderful gardens. Western furniture, modern designs in the main buildings of Chag Deok Palace were the works of the Japanese. They wanted to know that this was their land.(which now it's clearly not.)We must thank our ancestors and the soldiers for fighting for our independence that we are enjoying currently.