Changgyeonggung: where Sado lived, died
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Munjeongjeon of Changgyeonggung Palace, a council hall where the king dealt with routine state affairs / Courtesy of the Cultural Heritage Administration
By Kwon Ji-youn
The opening scene of “The Throne,” a 2015 Korean film about Crown Prince Sado and his tragic death, features Yeongjo, the 21st king of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), confining his young son, the crown prince, in a rice chest. Though the filming took place elsewhere, the execution in fact occurred in the courtyard of Changgyeonggung Palace’s Munjeongjeon, a council hall where the king dealt with routine state affairs. King Yeongjo, portrayed by Song Kang-ho, thought his son was mentally ill and deemed him unfit to rule. He had Sado, portrayed by actor Yoo Ah-in, sealed alive in a rice chest, where he died eight days later.
Sado was born in Jipbokheon of Changgyeonggung, which was built just east of Changdeokgung Palace in 1484 for three dowager queens when the latter palace became too crowded. At one point, the two palaces shared a name -- Donggwol, or East Palace.
Jipbokheon, small and simple, was the main residence of Lady Yi, mother of Crown Prince Sado. Yeongjo, initially pleased with the birth of a son, named him crown prince when he was just two years old -- his first son had died young. He became the youngest crown prince of the Joseon Kingdom.
A night view of Changgyeonggung Palace / Courtesy of the Cultural Heritage Administration
Historical records claim that the adult Sado suffered from mental illness, randomly killing and raping people in the palace, but whether his death was a reprisal for his misconduct or a result of a conspiracy by his political opponents remains controversial.
Crown Prince Sado also gave birth to a son, King Jeongjo, before his premature death. In the film, Crown Prince Sado dreams of a dragon, a premonition about the birth of his child. He paints the dragon and presents it to his wife, Lady Hyegyeong. The same dragon is depicted on the folding fan Sado clings to as he sobs in the rice chest, starving to death.
King Jeongjo was born in Gyeongchunjeon, the palace’s inner court where the births and deaths of the royal family were hosted. It was built in 1483 under King Seongjong as sleeping quarters for the dowager queen. Kings and queens were born and died here, and a plaque reading “Birth Hall” hangs above the entrance, written by King Jeongjo himself.
Changgyeonggung is where 66-year-old Yeongjo married 15-year-old Queen Jeongseong. It is also where Lady Hyegyeong distributed rice to the people on her 60th birthday. It was damaged significantly during the Japanese occupation era, when a zoo, botanical garden and museum were built there in a planned destruction of the grounds by the Japanese, but the Korean government in 1983 removed the zoo and had its animals relocated to Seoul Grand Park. Today, it remains a landmark of nature and beauty.
Tour of the grounds
Changgyeonggung wasn’t in much use until after the Japanese invasion of 1592, when the main palace, Gyeongbokgung, was destroyed in a fire. It was secondary to Changdeokgung, which became the main royal dwelling for several Joseon kings.
Unlike the other palaces, the main hall of Changgyeonggung faces east. It was constructed to maximize comfort and convenience, and though it was destroyed in a fire during the invasion, it was rebuilt in 1616.
The main gate of the palace, Honghwamun, faces east and the main hall and bell pavilions sit on either side of the wooden two-tiered gate. Okcheongyo Bridge sits beyond the gate, a symbolic entry to the courtyard. Both are designated national treasures.
Myeongjeongjeon, the palace’s main hall, is a simple one-story structure, smaller than the main halls of Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung, as they were originally intended as living quarters before being put to political use. A three-level walkway leads through the courtyard, to be used only by the king.
It is where all the main national events took place, where the royal subjects greeted the king on New Year’s Day or met foreign envoys. It is the oldest of all the main palace halls.
Munjeongjeon faces south, and was restored in 1986 along with Munjeongmun Gate. Sungmundang was where the king threw banquets to discuss state affairs and classical literature. A plaque carrying the name of the building, handwritten by Yeongjo, still hangs.
Tongmyeongjeon, the queen’s chamber, is surrounded by an exquisite garden and square pond lined with a crafted stone rail. Built on an elevated stone terrace, it was also used as a coffin hall for the wives of several kings. Buried deep inside the palace grounds, Tongmyeongjeon was the largest of the palace buildings.
It was near Tongmyeongjeon that Jang Ok-jeong, a former maid-in-waiting who had become one of King Sukjong’s concubines, cursed his queen, Queen Inhyeon, by burying a puppet of her with dead animals in an attempt to curse her. Jang had given birth to the king’s son, Prince Gyun, and the king temporarily made her his queen before she was deposed. When the act was discovered, Jang was executed by being forced to ingest poison.
Yanghwadang was where the royals would receive their guests. King Injo resided there when he returned from his refuge at Namhansanseong Fortress during the Manchu invasion of 1636.
The inner palace site, a wooded area built for ladies of the royal family and their maids, was also used as a spirit hall, and the eastern palace site is where the crown prince managed state affairs. The Chundangji pond, which today consists of one large pond and one small pond, the latter of which is the original created during the Joseon era, was once the site of rice paddies that the king would toil over. Another pond was built over it in 1909, when the Japanese dismantled Changgyeonggung.