Press Releases

Cultural Heritage Administration

Dec 29,2022

Royal Square glasslantern light up Jongno

- To hold lighting ceremonywith specially designed street lights with collection of National Palace Museumof Korea/ ’22. 12. 12.(Mon) 18:10 p.m. / in front of Sinmumun Gate,Gyeongbokgung Palace


The National Palace Museum of Korea (Director Kim In-kyu) under the CulturalHeritage Administration has installed 350 street lights developed by applying the lanterns usedfor night parties for the Joseon royal family in theJongno-gu area of ​​downtown Seoul in cooperation withJongno-gu Office (Mayor Chung Moon-heon), and Yonhap News Agency (CEO SeongGhi-hong), the nation's key newswire. To mark this, a lighting event will beheld in front of Sinmumun Gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace at 6 p.m., on December12.


'Square glass lantern' is a collection of the Palace Museum which isframed with lacquered wood, and covered with glass decorated with flowerpaintings. A lamp or a candle was put in the middle of the floor of the lamp, ahook was attached and it was hung on the roof eaves. Festivals were originallyheld in the early morning by the Joseon royal family,but night festivals were initiated by 19th century's King Sunjo's Crown PrinceHyomyeong (1809 ~1830). The square glass lanterns were used since the royalnight festival in 1829.

The NationalPalace Museum produced a DIY cultural merchandise using the 'square lantern' in2020 and it sold out more than ten times. The Square Lantern was also developedas an outdoor lamp and it was installed for demonstration in the main entranceof the museum and the surroundings. Based on these achievements, the museumcollaborated with Jongno-gu, which has a lot of inheritance related to royalfamilies such as Gyeongbokgung Palace, Changdeokgung Palace, Jongmyo Shrine andmore, and has installed square glass lantern specially designed as streetlights.

350 square glasslanterns specially designed as street lights are currently installed inJongno-gu in total. 271 in Hyoja-ro, surrounding Gyeongbokgung Palace,Cheongwadae-ro, and Samcheong-ro, 40 in Changuimun-ro, 19 inChanggyeonggung-ro, 9 in Bukinsamadang and 11 in Changdeokgung Palace Donhawmun(Yulgok-ro), in each spots. The spots are where Koreans and tourists visit alot, and it is expected to provide new sights, and naturally let people know thecultural heritage of the Joseon Royal Family. The street lights symbolizing theroyal cultural heritage will light up Jongno's night as it will be lit for thefirst time in this evening (6 p.m.) at the lighting event.

Not only theinstallation of the street lights, but the National Palace Museum of Korea willcontinue its responsibility to develop the community and to let people knowabout the beauty and the significance of the royal cultural heritages byactively utilizing it.