청와대 대통령관저부터 경복궁 녹산 덕수궁 덕홍전까지 나들이 / Cheongwadae Presidential Residence to Deoksugung Palace

오늘 나들이는 종로구 신교동 신교터에서 시작하여 #청와대사랑채, 명성왕후와 을미사변의 이야기가 담겨 있는 #청와대 대통령관저와 #경복궁 건청궁과 녹산, 명성왕후의 재가 뿌려진 향원정을 거쳐, 명성황후의 혼전 경효전이 있던 #덕수궁 덕홍전에서 마무리합니다.

00:00 인트로 / Intro
00:08 청와대 사랑채 / Cheongwadae Sarangchae
Today's walk starts in Singyo-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, where a newly installed historical information panel features a photo of the bridge that gave the area its name.

Near the fountain by Cheongwadae or Blue House stands Cheongwadae Sarangchae which hosts impressive exhibitions, blending digital art with traditional Korean paintings, along with installation pieces inspired by fireflies and traditional Korean lanterns.

From the second-floor windows, I could get a glimpse of the State Guest House, the roof of Cheongwadae’s main building, and Chilgung, a shrine dedicated to seven royal concubines who bore kings but were never granted the title of queen due to Chosun’s royal protocol.

02:40 청와대 대통령관저 / Chengwadae Presidential Residence
Cheongwadae Presidential Residence was built in 1990s on the former rear garden of Gyeongbokgung Palace and served as the home for presidents and their spouses for many years before the presidential office and residence were relocated.

To the west of a pavilion once stood on the presidential residence was the temporary burial site of Queen Myeongseong’s remains, including her little finger. She was brutally murdered by the Japanese in 1895, and her body was burned near her residence, Geongcheonggung within Gyeonggung Palace.

04:58 경복궁 건청궁과 녹산 / Gyeongbokgung Geoncheonggung and Noksan(Deer Hill)

Geoncheonggung, queen’s quarters built by King Gojong as a residence for Queen Myeongseong is located in the north within Gyeongbokgung Palace. Its construction symbolized his assertion of independence from his father, Daewongun, a ruthless regent who often clashed with the queen for the power.

Japanese soldiers murdered Minister of the Royal Household in front of the King and fatally attacked with swords Queen Myeongseong in her residence. Her body was then burned on Noksan (Deer Hill), and her remains were discarded in a nearby pond(except her little finger gathered and secretly buried in the rear garden).

Queen Myeongseong was aided inside her residence by several hundred court ladies and eunuchs and the place was heavily guarded. She once told British geographer Isabella Bird Bishop that she knew little of Korea beyond the palace procession routes. The British writer Arnold H. Savage-Landor, who worked on his painting near her quarters, witnessed people prostrate themselves when she peered out of a window of her residence. Lying on his chest, he dared to catch a fleeting glimpse of her, defying the court protocol forbidding unauthorized people from looking at her.

Opinions are still deeply divided among Koreans as to Queen Myeongseong. She is viewed by some as being corrupt and devilish b**** who wasted national money for her cronies, Min clan while regarded by some as being courageous mother of the nation who returned the power to the rightful owner, her husband King Gojong whose authority had been overshadowed by the dominant regent Daewongun. The latter returned from exile as a figurehead under the pro-Japanese government after the murder of the queen.

Since the queen had an audience with the wife of the first US minister to Seoul, she gradually gained favor in Western diplomatic circles. She invited foreigners to the palace for teas and, during the winter before her death, ice-skating on the pond, into which her ashes were discarded. The foreigners who had close contacts with her described her as being slender and pale with sharp eyes and intelligence. Despite extensive searches, no confirmed photograph of her exists, likely due to strict court protocols. The images sometimes attributed to her may actually be those of court ladies.

12:57 덕수궁 덕홍전 / Deoksugung Palace Deokhongjeon
Following Queen Myeongseong’s murder, an attempt was made, with foreign assistance, to rescue King Gojong, who had effectively become a hostage of pro-Japanese officials. Soldiers planned to enter Gyeongbokgung Palace through one of its north gates near the rear garden, but the plot was exposed, leading to its failure.

While under Russian protection, the court reinstated Queen Myeongseong’s royal status, reversing her posthumous demotion to commoner, and constructed Gyeonghyojeon shrine in her honor at Gyeongungung Palace (now Deoksugung Palace).

In 1896, while the King was at the Russian Legation, escorted by 700 court officials, the coffin containing the late queen's remains was transported from Gyeongbokgung Palace to the shrine. She was posthumously declared Empress of the Daehan Empire, and her funeral for burial in in the Tomb in Hongneung, Cheongnyangni, took place less than two months after the empire was officially proclaimed in 1897, two years after her murder.