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Gyeonghoeru Pavilion, a two-story pavilion built on the man-made pond in Gyeongbok Palace, is Korea’s National Treasure No. 224. It was originally used for banquets.
Courtesy of the Cultural Heritage Administration Royal Palaces and Tombs Center (royal.cha.go.kr)

The National Palace Museum conducts a virtual reality tour of Gyeongbok Palace via the Google Arts & Culture platform.
Courtesy of Google Arts & Culture (artsandculture.google.com)

Amid the ongoing campaign of social distancing, art lovers are finding new ways to appreciate the world’s artwork. As people need to stay at home and their access to cultural activities has become restricted, the number of online exhibitions has increased markedly, with artistic presentations using virtual reality technology drawing particular attention. Google Arts & Culture offers a “Korean Heritage” category on its website that includes 360-degree VR experiences of the Joseon-era Gyeongbok and Changdeok palaces.

If you click the VR tour button on the Google Arts & Culture platform, Gwanghwamun, the main gate of Gyeongbok Palace, appears amid a crowd of people. Just as in real life, you can experience the contrast between the palace in front of you and the high-rise buildings and automobiles on the street behind. If you pass by a few more gates and bridges, you’ll see Geunjeongjeon Hall, which commands a spacious courtyard paved with wide stones. This main throne hall is elegant and majestic with its two wing-like tiled roofs. The VR tour not only takes viewers to these major structures but also along the detailed paths leading to them. You can move to Changdeok Palace in the blink of an eye and witness the essence of the different aesthetics of palace architecture. Changdeok Palace and its rear garden were built without harming the natural environment, but rather in perfect harmony with it, and in recognition of this fact, were registered as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1997. When you reach the calm and beautiful rear garden, you’ll sense the feelings of the Joseon kings who relaxed there centuries ago.

Through the VR guide, you can even follow King Jeongjo’s royal parade from Changdeok Palace all the way to the Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon. You’ll feel as if you yourself are part of the procession that spanned over one kilometer from start to end!

Year after year, an increasing number of foreign tourists have come to Korea with hopes of seeing the nation’s historical sites. In answer to this mounting interest, more and more of these sites have been opened to the public, and visiting hours are being extended. But with outdoor activities restricted by COVID-19 in recent days, online exhibitions and VR experiences can serve as useful substitutes for an in-person appreciation of Korean history and culture. In fact, 2D or 3D computer graphics usually offer a closer look at the structures to online viewers than in reality, making it even more satisfying, in ways that anyone who has ever had to push through crowds to get even a glimpse of a landmark from afar might agree with.

Google Arts & Culture builds and provides a database of high-definition images of cultural properties and museum collections from around the world. It has attracted great expectations from its very beginnings, being easily accessible via mobile phones and web apps and offering free-of-charge views of an immense amount of material. In Korea, the National Museum, the National Palace Museum, the National Folk Museum, and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art have joined the project. Today, if you want to see the rich cultural assets of Korea, whether traditional or cutting-edge, you can do so just by getting online.

Written by Kim Moonyoung