The site now occupied by the Seoul Museum of Craft Art in Anguk-dong, Seoul, was once home to a royal detached palace of the Joseon Dynasty known as Andongbyeolgung.
 
Established in the late Joseon period, Andongbyeolgung served as a setting for major royal ceremonies. In 1882, the wedding of Crown Prince Yi Cheok, who would later become Emperor Sunjong, was held here. In 1906, the palace also hosted the wedding of Crown Prince Yi Cheok and Lady Yun, later Empress Sunjeonghyo.
 
The palace was eventually dismantled, and Pungmoon Girls’ High School was built on the site. After the school relocated, the Seoul Museum of Craft Art was established here. Although the palace itself disappeared long ago, objects once used there, historical records, and architectural structures relocated to other places have survived in various forms.

The Seoul Museum of Craft Art’s special exhibition 《Andongbyeolgung, Layers of Time》 brings together these scattered traces to revisit the vanished royal space and the culture of life surrounding it. What makes the exhibition particularly compelling is that it is being presented on the very site where Andongbyeolgung once stood.

From Royal Palace to School to Museum
 
Despite its name, Andongbyeolgung was not located in Andong, Gyeongsangbuk-do, but in what is now Anguk-dong in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
 
It was an important venue for royal ceremonies in the late nineteenth century. In 1882, the wedding of Crown Prince Yi Cheok, later Emperor Sunjong, took place here, followed in 1906 by the wedding of Crown Prince Yi Cheok and Lady Yun, later Empress Sunjeonghyo. The site thus witnessed the transition from the final decades of the Joseon Dynasty to the Korean Empire.
 
After the palace was dismantled, Pungmoon Girls’ High School was built on the site. When the school later relocated, the Seoul Museum of Craft Art was established in its place.
 
From royal palace to school, and finally to a museum of craft. Different eras of Seoul have accumulated one after another on the same ground. The exhibition title, 《Andongbyeolgung, Layers of Time》, directly reflects this transformation of place.

Looking at What Remains Rather Than Reconstructing the Palace
 
The exhibition does not attempt to fully reconstruct the vanished Andongbyeolgung. Instead, it uses historical records and craft objects associated with the palace and the royal family to illuminate the people who inhabited the space and the culture of their time.
 
Among the materials and objects on view are Uiwang Yeongwang Chaekbong Uigwe and Chubong Chaekbong Uigwe, along with royal garments and accessories such as the wonyugwan crown and dallyeong robe worn by Prince Ui, as well as dangui jackets and nambawi caps worn by women of the imperial family.
 
These objects are more than historical records. They reveal the aesthetic sensibilities, ceremonial traditions, and ways of life of the period in tangible form. The materials, colors, patterns, and techniques found in the garments, in particular, demonstrate the refinement and high level of craftsmanship associated with the Korean imperial court.
 
At the same time, garments, ornaments, and ceremonial objects actually used in daily and ritual life show that Korean traditional craft was not simply decorative art, but a practice deeply embedded in everyday life, ritual, and social culture.
 
 
 
How Royal Objects Survived to the Present
 
The story of how these objects survived to the present day is equally fascinating.
 
After the end of the Korean Empire and the royal era, many related objects were dispersed across different locations. Some imperial artifacts passed through private hands and communities, where they were preserved for decades before eventually reappearing in museum exhibitions.
 
Objects originally produced for royal ceremonies thus became personal possessions and, over time, were transformed again into cultural heritage valued for their historical and cultural significance.
 
The history of a craft object does not end at the moment of its creation. Who used it, where it traveled, and how it was preserved are all part of the history carried by the object itself.

The Dispersed Andongbyeolgung
 
The architecture of Andongbyeolgung followed a similar path.
 
After the palace was dismantled, several of its buildings—including Jeonghwadang, Gyeongyeondang, and Hyeongwangnu—were relocated elsewhere. Some were only identified much later as structures originally belonging to Andongbyeolgung and were subsequently moved and restored again.
 
While royal objects were dispersed among different collections, parts of the palace architecture were relocated across Seoul and other regions, while new layers of urban history accumulated on the original site.
 
As a result, Andongbyeolgung no longer exists today as a complete architectural complex. To understand the palace, one must look collectively at the original site now occupied by the Seoul Museum of Craft Art, the buildings relocated elsewhere, and the craft objects and archival materials preserved in various institutions.
 
The exhibition brings these scattered fragments together into a single narrative.

Three Eras Become One Landscape
 
Toward the end of the exhibition, contemporary artist Kwon Minho’s Three Orders, One Landscape (2026) is presented.
 
Through drawing and video, Kwon overlaps images of Andongbyeolgung, Pungmoon Girls’ High School, and the present-day Seoul Museum of Craft Art. The work visualizes how three very different eras—a royal palace, a school, and a museum—have occupied the same site over time.
 
By introducing a contemporary artist’s perspective alongside historical objects and archival materials, the exhibition also allows visitors to reconsider the changing identity of the site from a present-day perspective.
 
 
 
Another Way to Encounter Korean Culture in Seoul
 
For many international visitors to Seoul, Korean palaces are most closely associated with places such as Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung. 《Andongbyeolgung, Layers of Time》 offers a different way of encountering Korea’s royal culture and the history of Seoul.
 
Rather than presenting a fully preserved palace, the exhibition traces the history of a vanished site through relocated architecture, surviving craft objects, and archival records.
 
Royal garments and other craft objects also reveal how Korean craft developed not simply as decorative art, but as something closely connected to everyday life, ceremonial practices, and social culture.
 
Above all, what makes this exhibition distinctive is the opportunity to encounter the history of Andongbyeolgung on the very ground where the royal palace once stood.
 
From a royal palace to a school and finally to a museum of craft, this site has continually changed with the city around it. Rather than attempting to recreate a vanished palace exactly as it once was, 《Andongbyeolgung, Layers of Time》 invites visitors to read the many layers of Seoul’s history through the traces that have survived.
 
 
 
Exhibition Information

Exhibition: 《Andongbyeolgung, Layers of Time》
Dates: April 28, 2026 – August 29, 2027
Venue: Third Floor, Exhibition Building 3, Seoul Museum of Craft Art
Hours: 10:00–18:00 / Fridays until 21:00
Closed: Mondays and January 1
Admission: Free
Address: 4 Yulgok-ro 3-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Website: https://craftmuseum.seoul.go.kr
Exhibition Page: https://craftmuseum.seoul.go.kr/exhibit/plan/view/184