Interpretations of Renewal and Ruin: Traces of the Japanese Empire in the Royal Palaces of Seoul

For seventy years the Japanese General Government Building (Joseon-chongdokbu Cheongsa), a neo-classical style structure, dominated the space just behind Gwanghwamun, the gate that serves as the primary entrance to Gyeongbokgung Palace, the largest and most important royal palace of the Joseon Dynasty. A conspicuous sign of Japanese colonial rule, the destruction of the Japanese General Government Building in the 1990s marked the beginning of decades of historical restoration efforts on the Five Royal Palaces of Seoul, sites which were significantly damaged under Japanese colonial rule and the subsequent Korean War. Just a mile to the south, Deoksugung Palace, which showcases a European-style palatial structure alongside Joseon-style palace buildings and museum architecture from the Japanese occupation era, is also undergoing significant historical restoration, but with a different outcome: at Gyeongbokgung the goal is to restore the Joseon atmosphere, whereas at Deoksugung the early twentieth century feeling is preserved. Focusing on Gyeongbokgung and Deoksugung, this presentation examines sites that were specific to the political incidents that occurred in the two decades just prior to the Japanese colonization of Korea in 1911 and analyzes how these sites are preserved and interpreted today, in order to better understand the architectural traces of the Japanese colonial era that remain in the South Korean capital.