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Drawing Plan of the Northern Palace

北闕圖形

  • Artifact No.

    Gogung2341
  • Period

    circa 1907
  • Material

    Ink on paper
  • Dimensions

    W. 280.0 X H. 432.0cm

첨부파일 :

Bukgwoldohyeong (北闕圖形) is a ground plan of the layout of Gyeongbokgung Palace. Given the traces of many folds in the middle of it, the drawing plan would originally have been made as one drawing album, which was later unfolded and affixed with multiple folds to be transformed into a large scroll. The Drawing Plan of the Northern Palace Rear Garden was also produced to provide an integrated view of the whole palace site. Two Chinese characters, “北” (‘buk’ meaning “north”) and “闕” (‘gwol’’ meaning “a palace”) are written on the left and right sides of the two drawing plans, respectively.  

Very likely to have been produced in 1905-06 during the Korean Empire, the plan was drawn on a scale of 1:200, and the names of each building and its use were written in black ink on the red colored grid lines spaced at 10-11 mm intervals. The drawing is a major evidential source for the restoration of Gyeongbokgung Palace since it depicts the palace before being demolished by the Japanese Government-General of Korea.

Bukgwoldohyeong, along with Donggwoldohyeong (東闕圖形, the Drawing Plan of the Eastern Palaces), is considered a masterwork among the extant drawing plans of the Joseon Dynasty. 

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