The Royal Palaces and Tombs Center(Head Jeong Seong-Jo) at the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) and the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation (President Choi Young-chang) will host the 2023 Spring K-Royal Culture Festival for nine days from April 29 (Sat) to May 7 (Sun) at five palaces in Seoul (Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Deoksugung, Changgyeonggung, and Gyeonghuigung Palaces), Jongmyo, and Sajikdan.

The K-Royal Culture Festival is the largest cultural heritage festival in Korea, which has presented a variety of traditional culture contents across beautiful palaces. Last year, the festival attracted 1.36 million visitors in spring and fall combined. This year, the festival is expected to attract even more visitors as people can now enjoy the palaces this beautiful spring with things returning to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic.

 The K-Royal Culture Festival will kick off with a fabulous opening ceremony at Gyeongbokgung Palace on April 28.
The K-Royal Culture Festival will kick off with a wonderful opening festival on April 28 (Fri) at Heungnyemun Square in Gyeongbokgung Palace. On the day of the opening ceremony, the Commemorative Parade for the 40th Anniversary of ChanggyeonggungPalace’s Returned Name will be held for 40 minutes from 2:00 pm around Changgyeonggung Palace.

The opening ceremony is scheduled to begin at 7:30 pm at Heungnyemun Square in Gyeongbokgung Palace. The opening performance will feature a modern interpretation of traditional dances, such as the fan dance and cheoyongmu dance. It will be followed by a performance by a national children’s choir, and a thematic performance by the cast of Palace Musical: Sejong 1446, one of the programs on offer during the festival. The festival’s opening ceremony will conclude with a performance by La Poem, a male crossover vocal group.

Time Travel: King Yeongjo, Opening Honghwamun Gate to mark the 40th anniversary of Changgyeonggung Palace’s returned name.
The signature program of the K-Royal Culture Festival is Time Travel: King Yeongjo, Opening Honghwamun Gate, which will be hosted at Changgyeonggung Palace. The program is planned to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Changgyeonggung Palace’s returned name as an audience interactive program where participants can take part in a reenactment of King Yeongjo’s 50th birthday.

Participants selected from pre-event applications will be allowed to participate in the reenactment and experience each step during the preparation process of the royal festival. The event will be held for five days (May 2 to 6).

On May 2, a historical reenactment about the story of King Yeongjo’s 50th Birthday Ceremony, where the audience can move around, will be performed. It will be held for 80 minutes twice per day, and those who book the reenactment earlier will be able to watch the reenactment via the receiver as they move around Changgyeonggung Palace. The reenactment will also be live-streamed on Official Instagram of K-Royal Culture Festival.

From May 3 to 5, New Court Members (180 participants per day) selected from pre-event applications in the program will participate in food, painting, and dance experiences to prepare for King Yeongjo’s 50th Birthday Ceremony. After the experiences, they will learn pogurak, a court dance, watch traditional performances.

For the experience of Court Food, the program will prepare goimsang (meal for a special occasion) for King Yeongjo’s 50th Birthday Ceremony at the old site of Sookseolso (temporary kitchen), which is located near the well on the right side of Myeongjeongjeon Hall in Changgyeonggung Palace.

For the experience of Court Painting, the program will reenact court festival paintings by historical court painting experts and allow visitors to draw palace paintings at Gyeongchunjeon Hall in Changgyeonggung Palace.

For the experience of Court Dance, visitors can watch court performances, including hyangbal (traditional percussion instrument), near Tongmyeongjeon Hall in Changgyeonggung Palace, and learn how to perform pogurak.

 Around Haminjeong Pavilion in Changgyeonggung Palace, visitors will watch gugak (traditional Korean music) performances, including pansori, talchum, and sorikkun, by Civilian Singers invited to the palace under the theme of Jangakwon Inviting Singers.

The fifth day of the program will feature the reenactment of the King’s 50th birthday event and post-meal performances. The reenactment of the birthday event will be held twice per day for 60 minutes. After the reenactment, visitors can watch performances by the selected Civilian Singers and other celebratory performances at Chundangji Pond.

Furthermore, Yeongchunheon Hall in Changgyeonggung Palace will provide a permanent court clothing experience program where visitors can try on the clothing of various augmented reality (AR) court characters, who work in a palace.

Many things to see in Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, and Deoksugung Palaces
 In Gyeongbokgung Palace, Palace Musical: Sejong 1446, a four-day performance, will be held from April 29 to May 2 (paid event with advance booking required). From May 5 to May 7, the program Children’s K-Royal Culture Festival, which consists of a variety of experiences such as Children’s Gwageo Exam (traditional civil service exam) and Palace True or False Quiz, will be held for visiting families to celebrate Children’s Day. Around Sujeongjeon Hall in Gyeongbokgung Palace, performers across different fields, including new gugak artists, crossover bands, and classical musicians, will showcase a performance called Court Music Entertainmentfrom May 3 to May 7. In particular, on May 7th, a special performance featuring cellist Yang Sung-won will be held in connection with the night tour of Gyeongbokgung Palace.

 In Changdeokgung Palace, Romantic Palace Gidam Theater, a travelling theater play based on novels stored in Nakseonjae Hall, will be performed for four days from April 30 to May 3 (paid event with advance booking required).

 In Deoksugung Palace, there will be a performance called Artists’ Loved Palace, featuring famous artists, at 7:30 pm for three days from May 5 to May 7. Free performances to be held near Junghwajeon Hall in Deoksugung Palace will feature Yang Bang-ean’s Band on the first day, crossover band 2nd Moon and Kim Jun-su, Ha Yun-juand Kim Moo-bin on the second day, composer and pianist Yiruma on the third day.

 Advance booking program for K-Royal Culture Festival
The advance booking program prior to the festival will be available from1pm on April 19on the Ticketlink website (www.ticketlink.co.kr). ▲ Palace Musical: Sejong 1446 and Romantic Palace Gidam Theater are paid programs with 700 and 50 seats available per session, respectively. ▲ The Opening Ceremony of K-Royal Culture Festival (April 28), Children’s K-Royal Culture Festival Gwageo Liberal Arts Exam (May 5 to 6), day 1 of Time Travel: King Yeongjo, Opening Honghwamun Gate (May 2), Plum Flower Blooming Miles (May 4 to 6), a program planned by the Dae Han Imperial House, and Court Culture Campaign-Refreshment Experience of Yakbang(The traditional pharmacy) in Changdeokgung(April 29 to May 7), a program presented in partnership with LG Household & Health Care, are available for free with advance booking required.

Furthermore, the special ticket Palace Pass, which allows unlimited visits to the five palaces during the festival, will be available for 10,000 won. The number of tickets will be limited to 1,000.

During the festival, Palace Parade Performance, which features pangut (Korean folk music), will be showcased in the five palaces. It will take place on April 28 (Fri) in Changgyeonggung Palace, April 29 (Sat) in Gyeongbokgung Palace, April 30 (Sun) in Changdeokgung Palace, May 5 (Fri) in Gyeonghuigung Palace, and May 6 (Sat) in Deoksugung Palace. And Oprating hours are different for each palace.

For more information and the schedule of the 2023 Spring K-Royal Culture Festival, check out the website of the Royal Palaces and Tombs Center in the Cultural Heritage Administration (royal.cha.go.kr), the website of the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation (www.chf.or.kr), the website of K-Royal Culture Festival (chf.or.kr/fest), and the official Instagram account of K-Royal Culture Festival (@royalculturefestival_official), or call the Royal Palaces and Tombs Center Program Call Center at ☎1522-2295.