A friend of mine gave me a ticket to see the Picasso and Modern Art exhibition at the National Museum of Contemporary Art at Duk-Soo Palace. So, early in the morning I went out for a stroll, bought a new lens for my camera, went to see the exhibition, took another stroll around the Duk-Soo Palace grounds, and then went onto grab lunch and coffee with a friend.
The palace is around 600 years old. Initially, it was built for a prince hence its modest stature in size. But from 1593, after all the palaces have been burned down during a Japanese invasion, King Songjo temporarily took up the palace. From then on, it's been inhabited mostly by kings and royal lineage. Surprisingly, people in Korea still keep track of their lineage even today. So, it's not uncommon for a Korean to ask another Korean which bloodline they belong to. In the West, when it comes to lineage it's graphically visible through his last name. But in Korea, people are limited to only a dozen set of common last names or so. By variety, there are about 250 last names currently being used, but statistically 95% of the last names in Korea can be accounted by either Kim, Lee, Park, Choi, or Jung. It's hard to differentiate among them, especially for the Kim's, but even among the same last names people are classified into different Chinese characters for Kim, its clans, and different branches within the clan. The reason for the variety in Chinese characters even amongst the same last name is because it wasn't till 15th Century the Korean language was invented. So, Chinese was the only written and spoken language up till then and even after, it predominantly lasted as being primordial for few centuries. All in all, the wrap-up? The Duk-Soo Palace is an ancestral site for many Lee's and a cultural heritage tracing back all the way back to the Joseon Dynasty.
At a cafe with a friend. Testing out the new lens.
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