500 Years of Joseon and Seoul's Five Grand Palaces조선왕조 500년과 서울의 5대 궁궐

The Joseon dynasty, founded in 1392, governed Korea for more than five centuries and shaped much of what feels 'Korean' today — the Confucian emphasis on family, education, and etiquette all crystallized in this era. Its capital, Hanyang, is modern Seoul, and five royal palaces survive there. Gyeongbokgung, completed in 1395, is the largest and the ceremonial heart, laid out on a grand axis beneath Bugaksan mountain. Why five palaces? Fire and war. The Japanese invasions of 1592 left the palaces in ashes; kings ruled from rebuilt secondary palaces for centuries, and Gyeongbokgung itself was only reconstructed in 1867. Changdeokgung, rebuilt earlier and beloved by kings for the way it follows the natural terrain, is the only Joseon palace on the UNESCO World Heritage list (1997), famous for its Huwon 'Secret Garden.' Changgyeonggung adjoins it; Deoksugung mixes traditional halls with early-20th-century Western buildings; quiet Gyeonghuigung rounds out the five. The city plan itself is Confucian: Jongmyo, the royal ancestral shrine, sits east of the main palace, and the Sajik altars to land and grain to the west. Today the palaces are living public spaces — visitors in rented hanbok stroll past the changing of the royal guard, and admission is free if you wear one.