december-2011

Also known as The Palace
of Shining Happiness,
Gyeongbokgung once rivaled
the Forbidden City in Beijing.
IT’S HARD TO believe that such
a place — so delicately decorated
and set around elegant courtyards
and gardens, fi lled with light and
vibrancy — could be the scene of
so much turmoil and sorrow. And
yet it’s true of all the world’s great
palaces and parliaments: they
are home to immense power and
wealth, and as such can trigger
dark urges in the people that
inhabit them. Gyeongbokgung or
S EOUL’S GRAND PALACE
The Palace of Shining Happiness is no
exception: its opulent halls have seen
troubled times, and it has been a stage
for extravagance, vengeance, intrigue,
and even murder.
Gyeongbokgung — also called the
Northern Palace because of its location
in Seoul — has seen six centuries of
turmoil, although for half of that time it
was little more than scrubland around
some burnt-out foundations. When it
housed the royal family, it was ravaged
{ 138 }
by four major fi res, the restoration of
which had emptied the treasury on
at least two occasions (to become a
palace equal in grandeur to Beijing’s
Forbidden City or the Imperial Castle in
Tokyo). It had been a powerful symbol
used by both kings and invaders, and in
between rebuilds, had been at the heart
of much heated debate. It’s a wonder
what this Palace Greatly Blessed by
Heaven would have been like if it hadn’t
received such divine approval!
PHOTO MARK PARREN TAYLOR