Day 11

On day 11 we went to Changeok palace in the Jongno District. Changeok palace was constructed in 1405, the fifth year of the 3rd King Taejong's reign. There are a number of additions that were added over the years and not all places are created equally. Some buildings added later in its history are noticeably more tame and muted than the surroundings due to the residence not being Korean but actually of Japanese decent. Given the long history of this place and the many times it has been burned down and then rebuild it’s no suprise some parts would different but the contrast in these parts is striking. One of the unique parts of this building is how it goes against traditional. Typically complexes such as this are built with entrances facing the cardinal directions and straight lines running straight from the entrance to the emperors chambers. However this one was built with a pathway placed perpendicular to the entry way and chamber. The palace itself it’s quite winding and feel as though it was built and they went rather than being planned out. For the main path into the palace they’ve kept with their themes of hierarchy and have 2 elevated paths. The tallest and widest path was for the emperor while the smaller too on the left and right were for his soldiers and scholars. Interestingly enough the emperor was never expected to walk and would only ever be carried so he wouldn’t exactly walk over this path rather he would sit in a chair and be carried above it.

One of the biggest draw to the palace is the secret garden that hides behind it. The garden itself is the biggest part of the palace and has multiple buildings hiding within. This aspect of the palace was kept from the public for the majority of its history and only became available to see relatively recently. They’ve got a lot of square and circle imagery here and many place to right poetry or study literature. My favorite part of the garden was getting to see a repair done on one of the buildings. It was your typical wood, and tile construction but getting to see how they put it together was amazing. Especially the clay balls they use to fasten the roof tiles together and seal it from water. It’s was very refreshing to see them use the same techniques that built it in its repairs.

After the palace we went to Seoul University and got to hear our very own Dr. Hur give a presentation on her most recent research project and well as a Doctor from London give us an introduction on a theory about East Asia’s development. Both were really insightful and afterwards we got to have dinner with some students from the university. I got to sit with a urban planner graduate student named Kim and he was really cool and I found more in common than I thought I would.

I’d give the palace a 10/10 and the lectures and university a 8/10. One of the best days this trip.