Changdeokgung Palace hosts K-Royal Culture Festival on 7 October

Changdeokgung Palace is hosting the K-Royal Culture Festival from 7 to 11 October 2026 in Seoul, with exhibitions, guided walks and history programmes across the royal grounds. The festival is being held at four palaces and Jongmyo Shrine, while the programme at this palace focuses on architecture, craft and the Secret Garden.

Changdeokgung Palace opens its autumn festival programme

The five-day festival is hosted by the Royal Palaces and Tombs Center of the Korea Heritage Service and organised by the Korea Heritage Agency. Its programme at Changdeokgung Palace includes the craft exhibition Tracing Joseon Space: The Rhythm of Stillness at Huijeongdang Hall from 7 to 11 October 2026. The exhibition explores white as an aesthetic of emptiness, restraint and harmony within traditional wooden architecture. The festival programme for Changdeokgung Palace also lists the exhibition from 10am to 5pm.

Awakening the Morning Palace runs twice daily from 7 to 11 October 2026. The guided experience leads visitors through palace buildings and the Secret Garden, linking the early morning setting with the complex's carefully arranged spaces. From 9 to 11 October 2026, the Gyujanggak Chogye Munsin Workshop adds an interactive history lecture at the palace, followed by a search activity connected with the programme. The morning palace programme includes a dedicated English session for international visitors.

Huijeongdang connects the festival with palace history

Built in 1405 during the Joseon Dynasty, Changdeokgung Palace began as a secondary palace to Gyeongbokgung. After the palaces were burned during the Japanese invasion in the late sixteenth century, it was reconstructed first and later served as the dynasty's main seat for 250 years.

The complex covers 57.9 hectares in Jongno-gu, northern Seoul, at the foot of Ungbong Peak. Its official and residential buildings were fitted to the natural terrain, with a large rear garden known as the Secret Garden. That relationship between buildings, woodland and uneven ground gives the autumn festival a setting that is part of the subject itself, rather than simply a backdrop for the programme. UNESCO describes the palace complex as an example of architecture and garden design harmonised with its landscape.

Three festival strands show different sides of Changdeokgung Palace

The Huijeongdang exhibition brings craft works into a building named in the festival announcement, while Awakening the Morning Palace uses the palace's halls, paths and Secret Garden as a walking route. The workshop turns Gyujanggak, the late Joseon royal library and scholarly institution, into the historical theme for a new participatory session.

The festival therefore presents the site through three kinds of encounter: viewing objects in a historic interior, walking through a palace landscape and discussing the education of young civil officials. Each activity is tied to a named part of the complex or to a documented aspect of its history.

Visiting Changdeokgung Palace: what travellers from Western Europe should know

• The K-Royal Culture Festival runs at Changdeokgung Palace from 7 to 11 October 2026. Tracing Joseon Space: The Rhythm of Stillness is scheduled at Huijeongdang Hall during the same period.
• The Huijeongdang exhibition uses on-site registration, while Awakening the Morning Palace requires advance booking. The festival operator says that places for the English morning session are reserved for international visitors.
• The palace stands at 99 Yulgok-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul. Its grounds include the Secret Garden, Huijeongdang Hall and the route through the main palace buildings.
• The site includes woodland paths, historic buildings, ponds and pavilions arranged across uneven terrain. The festival's morning walk follows both palace buildings and the Secret Garden.
• The official language is Korean and the national currency is the South Korean won.
• Entry requirements depend on your nationality; UK travellers can check the FCDO travel advice at gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice, Irish travellers the Department of Foreign Affairs at ireland.ie.

Searching for Changdeokgung Palace on social platforms

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Frequently asked questions about Changdeokgung Palace

When does the K-Royal Culture Festival take place at Changdeokgung Palace?

The festival runs from 7 to 11 October 2026. Its Changdeokgung programme includes an exhibition, morning walks and the Gyujanggak Chogye Munsin Workshop from 9 to 11 October 2026.

What is Changdeokgung Palace?

It is a Joseon royal palace built in 1405 as a secondary palace to Gyeongbokgung. The complex became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

Where is Changdeokgung Palace and how do you get there?

The palace is at 99 Yulgok-ro in Jongno-gu, Seoul. The site is in northern Seoul and includes the palace buildings and Secret Garden within its heritage complex.