Gyeongbok Palace

The Gyeongbokgung is a palace located in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the "Five Grand Palaces" built by the Joseon Dynasty.

Seoul is famous for the large number of beautiful palaces which are located in and around the South Korean capital. One of the best palaces in Seoul is most certainly the Gyeongbok Palace. This amazing Seoul attractions was founded in the 14th century by King Taejo. This palace complex includes a beautiful lake as well as various towers and buildings.The first buildings of the palace were erected in 1394 the Korean architect, Jeong Do-jeon. There were many reconstructions and transformation over the centuries until the magnificent palace consisted of a whopping 330 buildings whose complexity covered almost 1.5 million square feet!

This majestic palace was very important to many Koreans, embodying the soul of the country and housing the royal family and it has always been a bitter memory since the Japanese destroyed all of its buildings, apart from ten, in 1911, and made a government headquarters in place of the ruins.

The Japanese occupied Korea as the colony of Ch?sen from 1910 until 1945, when Korea was handed over to the US and Russia after the defeat of Japan at the end of World War II. After this, in 1948, Korea was split into North and South under its own separate governments.

Ever since Seoul was back under control of Koreans it has been a wish to rebuild parts of the old palace, even more so recently as archaeologists have uncovered the foundations of the 330 palace buildings.

Opening hours of Gyeongbok Palace are daily from 09:00 until 17:00.