Qualla: Changdeokgung https://qualla.com/changdeokgung en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:39 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/y/d/m/changdeokgung-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Changdeokgung https://qualla.com/changdeokgung Changdeokgung: Introduction https://qualla.com/changdeokgung/ Photo credit Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, CC BY 2.0. Gyeongbokgung was the official palace. Changdeokgung was the one the kings actually wanted to live in. Established in 1405 as the second royal palace in Seoul, Changdeokgung spent most of the Joseon dynasty as the de facto seat of power, preferred by a majority of monarchs despite its technically subordinate status. The reason was partly practical -- when all the palaces burned during the Imjin War of 1592, Changdeokgung was rebuilt while the grander Gyeongbokgung sat in ruins for 270 years. But the reason was also something harder to quantify: the palace fits its landscape rather than imposing upon it, following the contours of the hills behind it in a way that even UNESCO recognized when it designated the site a World Heritage property in 1997.

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Image: Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | CC BY 2.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/y/d/m/changdeokgung-wp/wydm-changdeokgung-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Changdeokgung: The Preferred Palace https://qualla.com/changdeokgung/ Photo credit Brit in Seoul, CC BY-SA 4.0. King Taejong ordered Changdeokgung built in 1405, and from the beginning it was conceived as a complement to Gyeongbokgung rather than a rival. Together with the adjacent Changgyeonggung, it formed what Koreans called the East Palace. Yet comfort and circumstance conspired to mak...

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Image: Brit in Seoul | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/y/d/m/changdeokgung-wp/wydm-changdeokgung-the-preferred-palace.mp3 0:06 2 full Changdeokgung: The Secret Garden https://qualla.com/changdeokgung/ Photo credit Bernard Gagnon, CC0. Behind the formal palace buildings lies Huwon, the rear garden that most visitors remember long after the throne halls have blurred together. Covering roughly 60 percent of the palace grounds, this landscaped woodland of lotus ponds, pavilions, and ancient trees was the private r...

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Image: Bernard Gagnon | CC0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/y/d/m/changdeokgung-wp/wydm-changdeokgung-the-secret-garden.mp3 0:06 3 full Changdeokgung: The Last Royal Residents https://qualla.com/changdeokgung/ Photo credit Jtm71 at the Korean Wikipedia, CC BY 2.0 kr. In 1907, when Japan forced King Gojong to abdicate, his son Sunjong -- the last Korean monarch -- chose Changdeokgung as his official palace. After Japan formally colonized Korea in 1910, the colonial government began systematically altering the grounds. A Japanese-style building...

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Image: Jtm71 at the Korean Wikipedia | CC BY 2.0 kr

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/y/d/m/changdeokgung-wp/wydm-changdeokgung-the-last-royal-residents.mp3 0:06 4 full Changdeokgung: Heritage Reclaimed https://qualla.com/changdeokgung/ Photo credit Jordan Wooley, CC BY-SA 2.0. Changdeokgung's UNESCO inscription in 1997 cited its outstanding integration of architecture and landscape -- a quality that survived precisely because the palace was less aggressively targeted during the colonial period than the more symbolically charged Gyeongbokgung. Restorati...

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Image: Jordan Wooley | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/y/d/m/changdeokgung-wp/wydm-changdeokgung-heritage-reclaimed.mp3 0:06 5 full