Musical Changing of the Guard at Deoksugung Palace

Three times a day there is a reenactment and musical changing of the guard at Deoksugung Palace. It is quite a production where guards, wearing differing colors of ceremonial robes, march up to the palace and perform. I got a good picture of my DD, Krystle, posing with the head guard.

Korean National Treasures at Deoksugung Palace

There are quite a few interesting objects on display at Deoksugung Palace, and some of them are Korean National Treasures. Treasure number 29 is the Sacred Bell of King Seondeok the Great. Treasure number 229 is an ancient water clock. This clock is the oldest and largest surviving example of an automatic water clock.

The National Museum of Art at Deoksugung

The art museum does not hold a permanent collection of art, rather the curator brings in exhibits from around the world to display there. The curator has a reputation for bringing in excellent collections. We were lucky enough to visit the museum while the collection of Fernando Botero, an artist and sculptor from South America, was being shown. Botero is known for his larger-than-life paintings and statues of large-sized people and animals, as you can see by his cat statue that sat in front of the museum when we visited.

The Garden at Deoksugung Palace

It was a lovely afternoon when we visited Deoksugung Palace and strolled through the garden there. The fountain is unusual because it goes against Korean beliefs that since water flows downhill, a waterfall, not a fountain, should be built in a manmade garden. We loved the otters spouting water around the main fountain!

Deoksugung Palace

There are 5 palace compounds in Seoul, and our Korean guidebook said if you could only visit one it should be the Changdeokgung Palace. You can tell from my earlier posts how much we enjoyed Changdeokgung, but our trip to Deoksugung Palace was just terrific! We liked the fact that we could just wander about the palace grounds versus the guided tour at Changdeokgung. There is also a beautiful garden at Deoksugung, a display of some of the National Treasures of Korea, an art exhibition, and a musical changing of the guard three times a day (more about all of these later). If you ever get a chance to go to Korea, I would put the Deoksugung Palace on my "Must-See" list!