Jungmyeongjeon retains original grandeur

By Chung Ah-young

The Jungmyeongjeon Hall of Deoksu Palace which was the setting of significant historical events at the dawn of modern Korean history has been restored to its former glory and will open to the public on Aug. 29.

The Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) said Thursday that it has completed the two-year renovation so that the hall is now both a historical and educational place.

Located in Jeong-dong, central Seoul, the Western-style structure was first built by Russian architect Aleksey Seredin Sabatin (1860-1921) as the royal library between 1897 and 1901.

After Deoksu Palace was burned down in 1904, King Gojong moved his main office to the building to hold discussions on national affairs and receive foreign dignitaries. The building symbolizes the tragic history in which the Eulsa Treaty in 1905 was forcibly signed and where Gojong gave credentials to his special envoys before dispatching them to the Hague Peace Conference in 1907.

The hall was originally within Deoksu Palace, but it was separated from it when a stone wall was built between the two.

Boasting a modern architectural style with arched terraces on the facade and a tiled roof, the building unfortunately lost most of its original structure due to a fire in 1925.

After liberation from Japan on Aug. 15, 1945, the building underwent changes of ownership and some remodeling. It was donated to King Yeongchin and his wife Lady Yi Bang-ja in 1963 and became a private asset in 1976.

After being designated No. 53 of the Tangible Cultural Properties of Seoul in 1983, the Chongdong Theater purchased the building in 2003 and transferred the ownership to the CHA in 2006.

The administration reconstructed the building from 2007 to 2009 based on historical sources and restored both the exterior and interior, design and form to its original state. It has restored the initial red-brick exterior and the impressive terraces from the previously altered white structure that was without them.

“Although the building contains historical value for Koreans, it had been used for different purposes. So the administration decided to restore it to its original state to reflect the meaning and remind the public,” an official of the administration said.

The building will be transformed into an exhibition hall to showcase Korean tragic history in the three parts — figures, historical incidents and architecture.

The exhibition hall consists of five rooms that display historical documents, photos and video clips to portray King Gojong’s internal struggles to save the country and his efforts to herald the nation’s situation worldwide.

“Every corner of the building shows King Gojong’s struggles and strenuous efforts so the invalidity of the Eulsa Treaty would be known to the world and to gain independence from Japan,” Kim Ji-hyun, curator of the exhibition, said.

She said that the building is believed to be where the treaty was forcibly signed under the threat of Japanese military troops. Also, here, Gojong conceived the ideas of dispatching the special envoys — Lee Jun, Lee Sang-sul and Lee Wi-jong — to the Hague Peace Conference in a desperate move to appeal to the international community after signing of the treaty was coerced.

The most interesting part of the building is the labyrinth-like basement. However, the administration said that it has yet to find the purpose of the underground floor.

“We have yet to figure out how the basement was used. Many scholars tried to discover the purposes but to no avail, because not many relevant historical records remain,” the official said.

The basement features the impressive granite foundation unlike other similar Western-style buildings founded with concrete in the palace. “Using a granite foundation is a method of traditional Korean architecture. Although it was constructed in a Western-style, it was partially influenced by Korean traditional architecture,” he said.

The administration opens the building to the public six times a day from Aug. 29 and limits the number of visitors to 25 persons for each tour. Those who want to visit the building are required to make a reservation beforehand through the website of www.deoksugung.go.kr or call (02) 732-7525.