National Palace Museum of Korea

National Palace Museum of Korea is a national museum of South Korea located in Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul.

History

The museum first began as the "Korean Imperial Museum", which was established in September 1908 and was originally located in Changgyeonggung Palace. On November of the following year, the museum was opened to the public. However, on April, 1938, the ruling Japanese government renamed the museum to the "Museum of Yi dynasty".

In March, 1946, after the liberation of Korea, it was renamed "Deoksugung Museum". In 1991, Cultural Heritage Administration instituted the museum in Seokjojeon (석조전, Stone Hall) of Deoksugung Palace, and in 2005, the museum was relocated to a modern building inside Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Collection

National Palace Museum of Korea houses over 40,000 artifacts and royal treasures, from the palaces of the Joseon Dynasty and the Korean Empire, of which 14 are National Treasures of South Korea. It displays records, state rites, architecture, clothing, royal life, education, culture, paintings and music of the dynasty’s ruling era. It also has among its collection the royal seal of King Gojong of Joseon, which was used for his personal letters to Russian czar and Italian emperor after 1903. It disappeared during Japanese rule and was re-covered from a US-based Korean collector in 2009.

National Palace Museum

The National Palace Museum (Chinese: 國立故宮博物院; pinyin: Guólì gùgōng bówùyuàn) is a museum in Shilin, Taipei, Taiwan, focused on ancient Chinese art and artifacts. It is one of the national museums of the Republic of China and has a permanent collection of more than 696,000 pieces of ancient Chinese imperial artifacts and artworks, making it one of the largest in the world. The collection encompasses over 10,000 years of Chinese history from the Neolithic age to the late Qing Dynasty. Most of the collection are high quality pieces collected by China's ancient emperors.

The National Palace Museum and the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City in Beijing, mainland China, share the same roots. The old Palace Museum in Beijing split in two as a result of the Chinese Civil War, which divided China into the two entities of the Republic of China on Taiwan and the People's Republic of China (PRC) respectively. In English, the institution in Taipei is distinguished from the one in Beijing by the additional "National" designation. In common usage in Chinese, the institution in Taipei is known as the "Taipei Former Palace" (臺北故宮), while that in Beijing is known as the "Beijing Former Palace" (北京故宮).

National Palace

Buildings called National Palace include:

In Portugal:

National Palace (Dominican Republic)

The National Palace (Spanish: Palacio Nacional) is a building in Santo Domingo, that houses the offices of the Executive Branch (Presidency and Vice Presidency) of the Dominican Republic.

History

Designed in a restrained neoclassical style by Italian architect Guido D'Alessandro at the behest of Rafael Trujillo, construction started on February 27, 1944 —The centenary of Dominican independence —and was inaugurated on August 16, 1947. Occupying an area of 18,000 square metres and luxuriously appointed throughout, the National Palace is considered one of the most beautiful buildings built in the Dominican Republic.

The building stands on the grounds of the former Presidential Mansion (Mansión Presidencial), built during the United States military occupation of 1916-1924.

Design

While the president's office is located within the palace, the Palacio Nacional is not an executive residence as the president does not live there; there is no designated Executive Residence in Santo Domingo. The building comprises three stories. Building services are located at ground level.

National Palace (Haiti)

The National Palace (French: Palais National) was the official residence of the President of Haiti, located in Port-au-Prince, facing Place L'Ouverture near the Champs de Mars. It was severely damaged during an earthquake in January 2010. The ruins of the building were demolished in late 2012 and plans to rebuild the palace have not been set.

History and design

A reported total of four residences built for the country's rulers, whether the colonial governor general, emperor, or president, have occupied the site since the mid to late 18th century. At one point in the site's tumultuous history, when the chief of state was without an official home due to damage, a 19th-century French-style villa on Avenue Christophe assumed that role.

The earliest structure was the Government Palace (Palais du Gouvernement), which was constructed in the 18th century as the residence of the French governor general of Saint-Domingue. Its first Haitian inhabitant was the country's first president, the Franco-Haitian mulatto General Alexandre Pétion. The structure was deemed "nothing less than a palace", made of painted wood, with "a handsome flight of steps leading into good reception-rooms". A visitor in 1831 noted the building was "large and convenient, but not handsome. It is of one story, and situated in front of the parade, to the southeast of the town. Its entrance is up a fine flight of steps, leading through a spacious portico into the hall of audience. The floors of all the public rooms are of black and white marble. The furniture is tasteful and elegant, but not costly. This building ... was constructed with more attention to convenience than effect. The apartments are pleasantly cool." In front of the palace stood the marble tomb of President Pétion and one of his daughters.

Korea

Korea, called Chosŏn (Korean: 조선; Hanja: 朝鮮) in North Korea and Hanguk (Korean: 한국; Hanja: 韓國) or Daehanminkuk (Korean: 대한민국; Hanja: 大韓民國) in South Korea, is an East Asian territory that is divided into two distinct sovereign states: North Korea, formally the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), and South Korea, formally the Republic of Korea (ROK). Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by China to the northwest and Russia to the northeast. It is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait and the Sea of Japan .

Korea emerged as a singular political entity after centuries of conflict among the Three Kingdoms of Korea, which were unified as Silla (57 BC – AD 935) and Balhae (AD 698 – 926). The united Silla was eventually succeeded by Goryeo in 935 at the end of the Later Three Kingdoms period. Goryeo, which gave name to the modern exonym "Korea", was a highly cultured state and created the Jikji in the 14th century. The invasions by the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, however, greatly weakened the nation, which forced it into vassalage. After the Yuan dynasty's collapse, severe political strife followed. Goryeo eventually fell to an uprising led by General Yi Seong-gye, who established Joseon in 1388.

North Korea

Coordinates: 40°00′N 127°00′E / 40.000°N 127.000°E / 40.000; 127.000

North Korea ( listen), officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK; Chosŏn'gŭl: 조선민주주의인민공화국; hancha: 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國; MR: Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk), is a country in East Asia, in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. The name Korea is derived from the Kingdom of Goguryeo, also spelled as Koryŏ. The capital and largest city is Pyongyang. North Korea shares a land border with China to the north and northwest, along the Amnok (Yalu) and Tumen rivers, and a small section of the Tumen River also forms a border with Russia to the northeast. The Korean Demilitarized Zone marks the boundary between North Korea and South Korea.

Korea was annexed by the Empire of Japan in 1910. After the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II in 1945, Korea was divided into two zones by the United States and the Soviet Union, with the north occupied by the Soviets and the south by the Americans. Negotiations on reunification failed, and in 1948 two separate governments were formed: the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north, and the Republic of Korea in the south. An invasion initiated by North Korea led to the Korean War (1950–53). Although the Korean Armistice Agreement brought about a ceasefire, no official peace treaty was ever signed. Both states were accepted into the United Nations in 1991.