『경복궁영건일기景福宮營建日記』와 경복궁의 여러 상징 연구

Abstract

While it had been customary in Joseon Korea to record the details of official construction projects in the form of “ceremonial protocols” (uigwe) and "registers" (deungnok), the reconstruction of Gyeongbokgung Palace, the largest official construction project in the late nineteenth century Joseon, was recorded in the style similar to fieldnote, in The Daily Record of the Construction of Gyeongbokgung Palace (景福宮營建日記). Currently housed in Waseda University Library, Japan, The Daily Record is an account of the reconstruction process from the early April 1865 until its completion in July 1868 by Won Se-cheol (1817-?) and Kim Seok-geun (1826-1907), the record keepers in the Directorate of Construction (Yeonggeon Dogam). The book also identifies various symbolic objects and images found in the palace architecture. Among those images, symbols related to water such as a bronze dragon at the bottom of the pond of Gyeonghoeru Pavilion, number six, the water trigram (gam 坎), black background for the plaques, or the "dragon-vine" scroll decorative patterns were applied in various spots to protect the wooden buildings from fire. Names of auspicious symbols are also mentioned, such as the twin phoenixes (鳳凰), a tortoise bearing the Luo River Inscription (洛龜負書), and the horse bearing the Yellow River Chart (河馬負圖) decorating the ceilings of the arches of Gwanghwamun Gate. Animal figurines on the stone terrace of Geunjeongjeon Hall symbolize the Four Deities and the Twelve Zodiac signs, and the Twenty-Eight Mansions, clarifying our understanding of the palace and the ideas of the late-Joseon intellectuals who designed it.