Went inside but didn't manage to walk the whole palace. Too big. so we only walked all the buildings in the centre. Haha.
Okay the things that I'm gonna write later mostly get from the guidebook one. Lol. But so interesting.
Geunjeongjeon 勤政殿. This is the main throne hall of the palace. The meaning of the name is 'all affairs will be properly managed if Your Majesty demonstrate diligence'. This is where the king will deal with state affairs, including meetings and receptions with foreign envoys.
The stone markers bearing the ranks of the officials. The officials will stand in rows beside the markers that indicates the ranks. During a court meeting that happens four times a month, the officials will sit on cushions made of skins of different animals, depending on the individual's rank.
The ceiling is so high that from outside, the hall looks like it has two storeys but actually it only has one. You can see the carvings of dragons on the ceiling.
Sajeongjeon 思政殿. this is where the king holds daily morning meetings with his officials. Beside this are two buildings cheonchujeong and manchujeon with heated floors for the king's comfort in winter.
There are several of these rooms in front of sajeongjeon and they are used to store the private property of the royal household. this particular storeroom is named 玄字库.
Gangnyeongjeon 康宁殿. the living quarters of the king. Behind it is Gyotaejeon 交泰殿, the living quarters of the queen which unfortunately I don't have an overall picture of that for.
The garden behind Gyotaejeon is called Amisan. The chimneys (the orange coloured structure) are being termed as one of the national treasures.
One interesting thing about Gyotaejeon is that the doors have six flaps instead of the two big flaps in other buildings. This is because having six flaps it easier to open for women.
This pond is named Hyangwonji 香远池. It is squared shape. In the centre there is a pavilion name Hyangwonjeong 香远亭. I feel that this is the prettiest location in the palace.
Behind this is a building called Geoncheonggung 乾清宫. It is built by King Gojong in 1873. It includes a separate living quarters for the king and the queen, as well as a study.
It is the only place in the palace grounds that is of such brown colour. In 1895, Queen Myeongseong was assassinated by the Japanese here.
The next place we went was the residence of the crown prince and princess. The residence was built to the east of the king's palace as the crown prince was regarded as the rising sun.
There are two buildings in the residence. Bihyeonggak 丕显阁 and Jaseondang 资善堂. Bihyeonggak is the study room of the crown prince and Jaseondang is the living quarters.
After visiting this place, it's about time that gyeongbokgung closes. So we headed out to Gwanghwamun, the entrance to the palace.
The square in front of Gwanghwamun is really big. There of course, holds the statue of the great King Sejong. Below the statue is an underground pass that has an exhibition of the story of King Sejong.
The exhibition is in Korean though. :/
Some interesting things I saw. The top photo shows the word Hangul and the second photo shows the word Aigoo which means something like Aiya! haha.
After that we went to Kyobo bookstore to look around. It's abit like Kinokuniya in Singapore, just that it is the Korea version. And then we head back to our accomodation.
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