20170918
Geun Jeong Jeon is the most important building in Gyeong Bok
goong. Geun Jeong Jeon was used for the official meeting and ceremony.
So Geun Jeong Jeon was the essence of the Confucian political philosophy. It contained meaning of the world. The place where Geun Jeong Jeong was quadrilateral. Quadrilateral means earth. They thought sky is round and earth is Quadrilateral. Actually this kinds of view was originally from ancient korean's view of the world. I could not explain how it could linked to Confucian view of the world in making palace. Anyway It means the king rule the earth by delegated power from heaven.
So Geun Jeong Jeon should be highest.
In Korea the palace was built by wood. So as a wooden building, that much height was not easy to make. It looked two story, but actually one story building inside.
Let's look at the other directions.
Several years ago I had visited Gyeong Bok Goong with a professional photographer. At that time he told me this angle was the best place to shot the real feature of Geun Jeong Jeon.
In Korea, the Palace should be built with the harmony with the surrounding mountains. As I had posted before several times, mountain has very important meaning in korean life. Each mountain has it's characteristics and meaning. So even when building a Palace, they should take a consider of mountains. They had believed in mountain keeping the Palace. So my friend photographer told me Geun Jeong Jeon, even the most important building in Gyeong Bok Goongk was the part of Nature. So without mountains surrounding Geun Jeong Jeon, Photo would not be perfect.
What do you think ? Do you agree with my friends words?
I understand his thought.
Below is the Gate to Geun Jeong Jeon. Each building has different shapes according to different angles.
When I looked around outside of Geun Geong Jeon. The impressive thing was a contrast with contemporary buildings surrounding the Palace
You could enjoy contrast and harmony among a tradition, a present and a future.
The tradition has meaning when there is the present, and the future without the present is nothing to us.
Let's get closer to Geun Jeong Jeon next time.
Thank you for reading.