Restored Gyeongbok Palace hall offers rare look into incense, royal rituals
Summary
The newly painted Heungbokjeon hall at Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul will open in November for a four-session program on palace architecture and Joseon royal incense rituals. The Heungbokjeon Royal Culture Academy will run on Saturdays from Nov. 7-28. Lectures will cover vanished palace spaces, East Asian incense burners, reconstructed ceremonial objects and the fragrances used in royal ceremonies.
Key Facts
- The Gyeongbok Palace Management Office will offer 30 places for each session on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Registration begins at 2 p.m. Oct. 19 on the Royal Palaces and Tombs Center website, and the program is free.
- The Nov. 7 lecture by writer Lee Man-hee will use the Bukgwoldohyeong, an old architectural plan of the northern palace, to examine spaces that no longer exist.
- The final three sessions focus on the incense burner at Geunjeongjeon after its missing lid was re-created and installed in December 2025.
- The Nov. 28 session will examine the types of incense used in Joseon royal ceremonies and how they were obtained.
Foreign tourists pose for photos during a visit to Gyeongbok Palace in Jongno District, central Seoul, Oct. 4. Yonhap
A newly painted hall at Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul will open its doors this November, offering visitors a rare glimpse into Korea’s royal heritage through expert talks on historic palace architecture, ceremonial incense burners and the fragrances of 1392-1910 Joseon-era court rituals.
The Gyeongbok Palace Management Office, under the Korea Heritage Service’s Royal Palaces and Tombs Center, will host four sessions of its Heungbokjeon Royal Culture Academy on Saturdays from Nov. 7-28.
The free program will take place at Heungbokjeon, a hall within Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul, and is designed to help participants explore royal history through two themes: palace architecture and the cultural significance of incense burners.
The opening lecture on Nov. 7 will feature writer Lee Man-hee, who will draw on his book, “Secrets of the Palace No One Tells You,” to examine spaces within Gyeongbok Palace that no longer exist, using historical materials, including the Bukgwoldohyeong, an old architectural plan of the northern palace.
The following three sessions will focus on the incense burner at Geunjeongjeon, Gyeongbok Palace’s main throne hall, following a project to re-create and install its missing lid in December 2025.
On Nov. 14, Lee Yong-jin, a professor of art history at Dongguk University’s graduate school, will explore incense burners across East Asia and examine characteristics of Korea’s tradition.
On Nov. 21, Jang Kyung-hee, a former professor of cultural heritage conservation at Hanseo University who led research for the reconstructed lid, will compare incense burners installed in the main throne halls of Gyeongbok Palace and Deoksu Palace, examining their craftsmanship and symbolic meaning.
The final session on Nov. 28 will feature Ha Su-min, a doctoral graduate of Korea National University of Heritage, discussing the types of incense used in Joseon royal ceremonies and how they were obtained.
Registration opens at 2 p.m. Oct. 19 on the Royal Palaces and Tombs Center website, with 30 places available for each session on a first-come, first-served basis.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.
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