We were fortunate to visit on the first day of the Hi Seoul festival, so we got to see part of the rehearsal at the Palace and also the Lantern Festival in the evening, along with other festivities throughout the day. I hope to post a video of the drum rehearsal which was outstanding later.
The Palace faces the Han River and has a mountain at its back. In earlier times no high rise building could be build between the river and the Palace.
Many visitors to the Palace had on native costumes, it was not limited to the young but the elderly also joined in. The costumes were all bright colors with lots of gold embroidery. Another enticement is free admission to those coming in costume.
The Palace was built in the late 14th Century for the Joseon Dynasty. Most of the Palace was destroyed in the Japanese invasion of Korea in the 16ht century. The grounds originally had 500 buildings and a restoration began in the 19th century continues today. Two hundred and fifty of the destroyed buildings have been reconstructed with a projected completion date of all 500 by 2030.
Some interesting facts – the paint on the buildings originally lasted 100 years but now had to be repainted every 38 as the old method of creating paint has been lost through the centuries.
continued….
How neat to see! I wonder if part of the issue with the paint not lasting is also due to pollution in the air.
Just lovely!