Changgyeonggung Palace

Changgyeonggung was built in 1483 as a residence for three dowager queens, on ground where King Sejong had earlier housed his retired father. It was never the seat of government — that was Gyeongbokgung, and later Changdeokgung next door — so it is smaller, faces east instead of south, and was where the royal family actually lived. It was here, in 1762, that King Yeongjo had his son Crown Prince Sado locked in a rice chest in the courtyard and left to die. The throne hall, Myeongjeongjeon, was rebuilt in 1616 after the Japanese invasions and has not been touched since, which makes it the oldest of its kind in any Seoul palace. It is a single storey, deliberately modest. In 1909 the Japanese residency-general filled the grounds with a zoo, a botanical garden and a glass greenhouse, renamed the place Changgyeongwon, and opened it as an amusement park. The animals left in 1983 and the palace buildings were put back, but the greenhouse stayed: a white iron-and-glass hall at the north end, the first of its kind in Korea, now holding native plants.

Original Text

Where it is

Region

Jongno-gu, Seoul

Designation

Historic Site · 사적