The Japs conquered it 3x

[Jeff]

A very popular tourist attraction in S. Korea. Taken in mid Nov 03 winter time. No wonder the "made in J" is so freaking ex there.

It's history lesson on-site.

[PLRBEAR]

Do tell. What's so special about this place?

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by PLRBEAR Do tell. What's so special about this place?

Correction: K was invaded 2x by J.

Article from http://www.skynews.co.kr/skynews_mai...ourism_017.htm

"Kyongbok Palace was expanded gradually to take on the proper appearance of a major palace. When Japan invaded Korea in 1592, the king and his retinue chose to abandon the capital and flee north. Incensed by the king's flight, the town's people burned the palace to the ground. When the king and his court returned after the war to find the palace destroyed, Changdok Palace and Changgyong Palace were repaired to serve as the king's official residence. Kyongbok Palace lay in ruins for 273 years until it was reconstructed in 1867. Reconstruction was delayed not only by a lack of financial resources resulting from the ravages of the 1592-1598 war but also because succeeding kings suspected the site was inauspicious.

Political power fell into the hands of several elite clans and the crown was rendered more or less impotent after the sudden demise of King Chongjo, one of Chosun's most powerful monarchs. In 1864, Kojong ascended the throne at a young age and his father, the Hungson Taewon-gun (Prince Regent), assumed direction of the government.
It was the primary goal of the Prince Regent to render the elite families powerless and to create a strong monarchy. The reconstruction of Kyongbok Palace was an ambitious project launched to symbolize the dignity of the royal house.
The palace that the Prince Regent created was quite different from the original Kyongbok Palace. Some 350 buildings were built on a site measuring over 40 hectares. The new palace was 18 times larger than the original 350-kan palace.

As there were not enough funds in the royal coffer to meet the staggering construction costs, the Prince Regent levied special taxes on all social classes, including the elite yangban literati who had hitherto enjoyed tax exemption. He thus achieved the dual effect of raising funds and stripping the yangban class of its financial resources.
However, the kingdom was fragile by this time, its authority weakened by the encroachment of Western powers and Japan, and the construction of Kyongbok Palace, which was meant to enhance the dignity of the throne, ironically became the primary cause of the Prince Regent's undoing and the beginning of the kingdom's downfall.

After forcibly annexing Korea in 1910, Japan unremittingly and systematically vandalized Kyongbok Palace, the symbol of Chosun sovereignty. Members of the royal family were relocated to Changdok Palace, and hundreds of palace buildings were dismantled and sold to the public.
Many of these structures were moved to the foot of Mt. Nam to be used as Japanese restaurants. When a fire destroyed much of Changdok Palace in 1917, 200 more buildings from Kyongbok Palace, including Kyotaejon, the queen's living quarters, were dismantled and erected in Changdok Palace.

Finally, in 1926, Kwanghwa Gate was removed, and an enormous building housing the Japanese Government-General was constructed in front of the throne hall, the symbol of Korean sovereignty. Then the building housed the National Museum of Korea.
The mistreatment of Kyongbok Palace continued after the nation's liberation from Japan in 1945. A mammoth building housing the National Folk Museum was constructed on the eastern edge of the palace grounds, which were gradually eaten away by road expansion in the surrounding area.

Tongsipchagak, the watch tower at the southeast corner of the palace wall, was eventually marooned in the middle of a city street, and Sosipchagak, its southwestern counterpart, was demolished. The only visible restoration effort was the construction of a concrete replacement for Kwanghwa Gate in 1968 to hide the old Government-General building, a constant reminder of Japanese colonialism.

To commemorate the liberation day that fell on August 15, 1995, the Ministry of Culture and Sports at last removed the colonial Government-General building and made a park where rumbles of the former Government-General building are piled to make people remember the bitter days during the Japanese colonial rule. Kyongbok Palace, thus, could once again be the symbol of the Korean nation and the center of Seoul."

[hyun]

it was said that the Governor-General's building was made to cut the fengshui of the front view from the palace which extends beyond Kwanghwamun towards the city.