For a enlightened exploratory opener, embark on your tour of Seoul at the central and historical Deoksugung Palace, the Palace of Honorable Longevity, whose entrance faces City Hall Plaza. Deoksu is not the oldest of the surviving palaces - it was built as a country house toward the end of the 15th century, but it is significant for its role at the unpleasant end of Joseon dynasty. King Gojong, who was forced to step down in favor of his son Sunjong in 1907, lived in retirement and died here in 1919 after having seen his country annexed by the Japanese in 1910 and his family's empire snuffed out after 500 years.
Among the most conspicuous composition on the palace grounds, regularly open to the public, is a statue of Sejong, the great 15th century King who authorized scholars to develop a distinctive Korean writing system, different from the traditional Chinese characters, and officially promulgated it in 1446. There is also a majestic audience hall and two astonishingly European-style stone buildings, with Ionic and Corinthian columns designed in 1909. These buildings are used to house the Royal Museum, exhibiting items once used by the royal court. The palace grounds offer a welcome relief from the modern buzz, especially in the autumn when its passageway of gingko trees in ablaze in gold.
Visitors to Deoksu Palace are often amazed to find themselves in the middle of odd-looking, weapon-carrying soldiers marching to the beat of huge drums and elongated trumpets. This is the ceremony of the Changing of Palace Gate Guards (at 10-11.30am & 2-3.30pm), performed much as it was when kings and queens lived and ruled behind palace walls more than a hundred years ago.
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