Gyeonghuigung: a foreigner's account

The beauty and magic of Gyeonghui Palace in 2023. Robert Neff Collection

By Robert Neff

Arguably, one of the least known and appreciated palaces in Seoul is Gyeonghuigung ― the Palace of Serene Harmony. Despite being within walking distance of city hall and located right next door to the Seoul Museum of History, it is rare to see more than a handful of people ― especially tourists ― wandering through the serenity of the palace grounds.

Even in the late 19th century, the palace ― for the most part ― was unappreciated and often overlooked. Of course, the Western residents of Seoul knew of the palace and often made it their destination for their daily walks, but few of them bothered to write much about the palace or its human inhabitants. When it was mentioned, it was generally referred to as the Mulberry Palace ― due to the extensive mulberry orchard that had been planted in a bid to develop a Korean silk industry ― and invariably described as being haunted by vengeful spirits or the hunting ground for tigers and leopards.

The palace grounds, once the playground for evil spirits and wayward leopards is now a popular oasis of serenity for the local residents. Robert Neff Collection

There was, however, an exception. In 1891, a resident in Seoul wrote:

"For the past few weeks Seoul has been honoured by the visit of Mr. A. Henry Savage Landor, the distinguished young English artist, already so well known in Egypt, the United States, and Japan, where the excellence of his work speedily won him fitting recognition…. Mr. Landor's accurate drawing, keen perception of the picturesque, delicacy of touch, and sentiment of colour, as well as his indefatigable activity and rapidity of execution, having excited general admiration here; while his gentleness of manner and genial spirit have won him many friends in Corea."

There is no doubt that Landor possessed "a keen perception" that he conveyed not only through his paintings but also through his pen. His descriptions of Korea were not always accurate but were generally amusing to his readers.

Gyeonghui Palace is a great place for those wanting to take pictures without the crowds. Robert Neff Collection

Landor arrived in Seoul during the first week of January 1891. He spent a considerable amount of time at the home of Clarence Greathouse, the American legal advisor to the Joseon government. Greathouse, along with his mother, lived across the street from Gyeonghuigung and it seems only natural that the palace's "huge gateway with a red wooden door ― in a rather dilapidated condition" ― attracted their English guest's attention.

"[Gyeonghuigung] is a tumble-down place," declared Landor. "In olden days it used to be the king's palace …[but] for some reason or other this place, with all its accessories, buildings, &c., has been abandoned by the Court simply because of rumours getting abroad that ghosts haunted it. Evil spirits were reported to have been seen prowling about the grounds, and in the royal apartments, and it would never have done for a king to have been near such a company; so the Court went to great expense to build a fresh abode for the royal personage, and the old palace was abandoned and left to decay."

The throne room of Gyeonghui Palace. Robert Neff Collection

As mentioned above, these ghostly encounters were a subject for Western visitors, but few of them actually bothered to spend much time exploring the grounds and devoted almost no ink to the mundane descriptions of the buildings.
[Please link - https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/08/113_317638.html]

It is a shame Landor did not capture the palace in one of his watercolors or sketches but he did describe it with his pen. He noted that the extensive grounds were laid out in pretty gardens and that there were large stands of mulberry trees, once part of a plantation that was "a foreign speculation which was to enrich the King and the country, but which turned out instead a huge fiasco."

Despite being in the center of downtown Seoul, serenity still reigns. Robert Neff Collection

The centerpiece of the palace grounds was Sungjeongjeon which, according to the placard currently at the palace, was constructed in 1618 and was where the Joseon "kings met with their subjects in the morning and had official ceremonies, such as a royal feast for foreign diplomats." Landor described it as standing on a small hill and being constructed from wood (painted red) and the audience hall still had the remains of a wooden throne with screens at its side.

"There is nothing artistic about it, no richness, and nothing beautiful, and with the exception of the ceiling, that must have been pretty at one time with native patterns and yellow, red and green ornaments, there is absolutely nothing else worth noticing. Outside, the three parallel flights of steps leading up to the audience hall have a curious feature. It is forbidden to anyone but the King to go up on the middle steps, and he of course is invariably carried; for which reason, in the middle part of the centre staircase a carved stone table is laid over the steps in such a way that no one can tread on them except quite at the sides where the men who carry the King have to walk."

The contrast of the tall modern buildings surrounding the old palace. Robert Neff Collection

His description of the rest of the palace is equally dismal.

"The houses where the King and royal family used to live with their household have now been nearly all destroyed by the weather and damp, and many of the roofs have fallen in. They were very simple, only one story high, and little better than the habitations of the better classes of people in [Joseon]. Coming out again of the inner enclosure, one finds stables and other houses scattered here and there in the compound, and lower down we come to a big drain of masonry."

These drains or sewers were frequently the temporary lairs of wayward tigers and leopards that at night preyed upon unwary dogs or hunted deer in nearby Gyeongbok Palace.

I find it somewhat interesting that Landor did not mention the damage to the palace caused by a fire in 1889. The fire was fairly large and damaged a number of buildings and punishments were meted out to the palace's guardians ― a pair of eunuchs. Landor did mention the eunuchs (I am assuming these were not the same eunuchs that were held responsible for the previously mentioned fire) but his description of them was less-than-flattering.

Stairs are everywhere. Robert Neff Collection

According to Landor, they were the "sole inhabitants" of the palace and occupied a small room about three meters square. They seemed very pleased to see the Westerner and politely saluted him and invited him to join them as they smoked their pipes and drank their tea. Landor readily agreed and while he may have smiled and laughed with them (or rather at them), his malicious pen has mocked them for well over a century.

"One of them, a fat fellow of an unwholesome kind, as if he were made of putty, having learnt the European way of greeting people, insisted on shaking hands with me, but, oh, how repulsive it was! His cold, squashy sort of boneless hand, gave you the impression that you had grasped a toad in your hand. And his face! Did you ever see a weaker, more depraved and inhuman head than that which was screwed on his shoulders? His cadaverous complexion was marked with the results of small-pox, which were certainly no improvement to his looks; his eyes had been set in his head anyhow, and each seemed to of its own accord; his mouth seemed simply to hang like a rag, showing his teeth and his tongue."

The guardians never rest. Robert Neff Collection

Of his companion, Landor described him as being much thinner but still "possessing the effeminate, weak characteristics" and, perhaps even more annoying, he had a squeaky voice similar to that of a little girl.

Although the eunuchs were "poor wretches," Landor confessed that he "went into screams of merriment at the misfortune of these poor devils." I wonder if anyone ever bothered to tell him that shortly after he left Korea, the eunuchs had another visitor ― one that cost them dearly. On May 19, 1891, another fire broke out in the palace and, as in the past, those deemed responsible were severely punished.

Water was an integral part of Gyeonghui Palace as we shall see in the next article.

Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.