Gyeonghuigung Palace

This guide to Gyeonghuigung Palace in Seoul begins in 1616, when geomancers told a paranoid King Gwanghaegun that a modest house on this hill radiated royal energy, and he seized it and built a palace over it to smother the omen. It follows what happened to the evicted prince's son seven years later, and traces the palace through two centuries of royal use before fires, a regent stripping it for timber, and colonial demolition left almost nothing standing. Pause in front of Sungjeongjeon hall, where courtiers once knelt for morning audiences.