onsdag den 12. december 2012

Old Korea

Being from the west, one particular part of Asian culture that I for a long time have wished to experience, is traditional architecture - Old Korea.

Having seen replicas made for movies shoots or in documentaries, seeing the real deal for the first time was a really special experience. In Seoul you can find a lot of different historic sites, since the Korean government and people are really keen on preserving what is Korean, and tied to Korean culture. If one dive deeper into Korean history the previously mentioned is easily understandable. Koreans are very nationalistic.



Changdeokgung (창덕궁)


This palace ground is one of five palaces in Seoul visited during August.


  

The guides all wear traditional Korean attire, the Hanbok (see woman on right)
       



The following pictures are from Deoksugung (덕수궁 = deoksu-palace) visited in december.



The contrast between the back ground and main focus is astonishing 


Since this is not a history class, I will spare you the details and instead link you to a movie explaining the fascinating parts about Deoksu-gung. Whether you want to watch it is up to yourself.

 * see bottom of the page before watching!


Pictures of the small roads in the traditional villages located in Seoul, called Hanok Maeul (하녹 마을 =A Village of Traditional Houses).

These villages are made for preserving culture and history, therefore a place that one must visit if coming to Korea. A lot of the Houses in those areas are open to visitors, and some of them even conduct small workshops for people to give a feel of what some things may have been like in traditional Korea (I plan to go there and try stuff out next summer if possible).

  



Galguk-su (갈국수) and Mandu (만두). I like this.





This may have seemed kinda random, but I see no reason for you to read a lot of random stuff that will just sound like gibberish when not familiar with the historic contexts.



* The video is about the area "jeong-dong" in which Deoksugung also is to be found. It was made for a history class focusing on modern Seoul, and may not make any sense when not familiar with the subjects.

In short it is about the area surrounding Seoul city hall in both a historical and contemporary context. It includes a lot of points regarding the area and Korea's modern history all the way up until today.

1 kommentar:

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