K-Royal Culture Festival celebrates 10 years, introduces foreigner-exclusive events

The spring edition of the K-Royal Culture Festival is kicking off on April 26, and the organizers are eager to ensure that foreigners don't miss out on enjoying the lineup of traditional cultural events held at Korea's royal palaces in central Seoul.

The opening ceremony of the last year's K-Royal Culture Festival held in spring. This year's spring edition kicks off on April 26. The opening ceremony, which is themed around "love for the people," begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Gyeongbok Palace. [CULTURAL HERITAGE ADMINISTRATION]

The spring edition of the K-Royal Culture Festival is kicking off on April 26 for nine days, and the organizers are eager to ensure that foreigners don't miss out on enjoying the lineup of traditional cultural events held at Korea's royal palaces in central Seoul.

Marking its 10th anniversary this year, the biannual festival takes place every spring and autumn at Seoul's five palaces — Gyeongbok Palace, Changdeok Palace, Deoksu Palace, Changgyeong Palace and Gyeonghui Palace — as well as Jongmyo Shrine. According to organizers, the Cultural Heritage Administration’s Royal Palace and Tombs Center and the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation, last year's two festivals attracted over 675,000 visitors from both home and abroad.

Though the government wanted to turn the festival into a global event from the outset, it was somewhat difficult for foreigners to get fully involved. In the early years, information on the programs were not provided in English, reservations were not available in English and the tickets for many of the programs sold out too quickly even for Koreans familiar with local online ticketing sites.

That's all in the past now. From this year's spring edition of the festival, the organizers partnered with global ticketing platform Creatrip so that foreigners can buy tickets for reservation-only events and programs. The organizers have also included programs tailored exclusively to foreigners, in an attempt to make the festival more accessible and enjoyable for international visitors.

Foreign visitors to last year's K-Royal Culture Festival at the crafts section [CULTURAL HERITAGE ADMINISTRATION]

Foreigner-exclusive events The festival's signature program, "A Time Travel, King Sejong – A time travel to the Joseon Dynasty,” at Gyeongbok Palace’s Gyeonghoeru Pavilion offers a glimpse into palace life during the reign of King Sejong (1397-1450). It includes a palace cuisine tasting experience, dance and martial arts demonstrations and displays of court paintings. The Korean version of the program usually runs for 100 minutes, but the English version has been condensed to 60 minutes. This version, tailored for international visitors, is available four times a day from May 1 to 5, starting at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Tickets for this program will be exclusive to foreigners.

At Gyeongbok Palace's Geunjeongjeon, the main hall of the palace used for holding royal ceremonies, the "Palace Concert: A Performance by 100 Artists” will take place on May 4 and 5. The palace will also hold performances for Koreans to attend, but these two specific dates have been reserved for foreigners, giving them the chance to learn about the different traditional Korean instruments featured in the concert. These include the daegeum (a large traditional bamboo flute), gayageum (12-string zither) and haegeum (two-string zither, like a fiddle). The concert starts at 7:30 p.m.

Participants at Changdeok Palace's ″A Nocturnal Walk under the Moon″ last year enjoy a walk inside the palace with a traditional lantern. [YONHAP]

Tickets to the popular moonlight and starlight tours of the palaces, which are usually competitive to purchase, will become more easily accessible for foreigners. On Creatrip, one account can purchase up to two tickets to Changdeok Palace’s Moonlight Tour, which takes place on April 27 and 28, and again on May 2 and 3 (30,000 won). The same goes for Gyeongbok Palace’s Starlight Night Tour from May 2 to 4 (60,000 won) and Deoksu Palace’s Seokjojeon Night Tour from May 1 to 3 (26,000 won). Only foreign passport holders can purchase the tickets and IDs will be checked at the entrance. There are separate night tours available for Koreans.

For those wanting to experience royal snacks, there is Gyeongbok Palace’s “Saenggwabang” program, scheduled from May 1 to 4. Inside the palace, there’s a kitchen known as Sojubang. Foreigners familiar with Korean drama series will instantly notice the location, as it is the same kitchen used by Jang-geum in the popular historical drama “Dae Jang Geum” (2003-4). The drama follows an orphaned cook, played by actor Lee Young-ae, who becomes the king’s first female physician. Participants for this program can experience different royal snacks that were served to kings and queens. Guests will enjoy their royal snacks while watching a live gayageum performance in the courtyard. The royal snacks will include guseonwangodo, a medicinal tteok (rice cake), recorded in Donguibogam, a medical encyclopedia written and compiled by Joseon-era doctor Heo Jun. The other snacks are juak, which tastes like a glutinous rice donut, walnut and apple jeongwa (a crispy and chewy snack made by combining fresh fruit or seeds with honey, sugar water or rice syrup), yakgwa (a fried snack made with flour and honey) and maekjakgwa (a fried snack made with flour, honey, pine nut and ginger). The program runs for 70 minutes and costs 15,000 won.

A program at the festival offers participants to learn about dancheong (traditional Korean decorative coloring). [CULTURAL HERITAGE ADMINISTRATION]

A master craftsperson showcases how to make a traditional arrow. [CULTURAL HERITAGE ADMINISTRATION]

New programs this year Traditional Korean crafts will be exhibited for the first time at the festival this year. An exhibit titled “MEETS: A Timeless Harmony” will be held at Changdeok Palace’s Injeongjeon from April 27 to May 5. It will feature 24 works, including five intangible cultural heritage items. They comprise crafts made from hanji (traditional Korean paper) and works using dancheong (traditional Korean decorative coloring). Reservations are not required, and entrance to the exhibition is included with a palace ticket.

At Gyeongbok Palace’s Heungryemun Square, an outdoor market called “K-Heritage Market” will be organized for the first time as well. Visitors to the market can purchase traditional crafts and try royal snacks. It will operate throughout the festival.

Early birds have a special program, too. Changdeok Palace's inaugural “Awakening the Morning Palace” stroll starts at 8 a.m. from April 29 to May 3. Participants take a group morning walk around the palace to enjoy the calm and tranquil atmosphere. Writer Lee Si-woo, who wrote the book “How to stroll around the royal palace” (2021, translated), will accompany guests. The walk takes 120 minutes and costs 10,000 won to participate.

Participants can try different royal court games during the festival. [CULTURAL HERITAGE ADMINISTRATION]

For families with children Since May 5 is Korea’s national Children’s Day, the organizers have prepared an array of programs for children. The “Children’s K-Royal Culture Festival” allows children to experience various occupations from the late Joseon Dynasty. Kids can become a court chef, doctor, gardener, interpreter or join chwitadae (a Korean traditional marching band). This program is open to children for free and runs from May 1 to 5 at Changgyeong Palace. Reservations are required.

At Deoksu Palace, visitors can experience the hobbies enjoyed by King Gojong (1852-1919). Adults can drink coffee and play billiards, just like the king, while kids can play different traditional games. For those looking for a more educational experience, the “Discover Gyeonghui Palace” program allows kids to explore the history and architecture of what was once called the Western Palace during the Joseon Dynasty. The program will be operated in conjunction with the Seoul Museum of History’s children’s education program so that young children can also easily understand and learn about the palace. It runs between May 1 and 5.

The festival's popular musical performance, “Royal Palace Musical - King Sejong 1446,” will be staged at Geunjeongjeon in Gyeongbok Palace from April 28 to 30. [CULTURAL HERITAGE ADMINISTRATION]

Organizers for this year's K-Royal Culture Festival, including Park Dong-woo, the director of this year's opening ceremony, third from right, pose for a picture during the press conference held on April 4 at the Korea House in central Seoul. [YONHAP]

Signature programs This year's opening ceremony marks the 10th anniversary of the festival with the theme “love for the people” — based on a famous quote by King Sejong.

“It’s a valuable opportunity to experience the royal palaces in full during the festival, which goes for nine days,” said Park Dong-woo, the director of this year’s opening ceremony. “The focus for us this year is on blending the traditional buildings' excellent ‘hardware’ with diverse cultural ‘software’ to showcase the living cultural heritage that remains relevant today.”

Last year’s sold-out show “Royal Palace Musical – King Sejong 1446” will be performed again at Geunjeongjeon in Gyeongbok Palace from April 28 to 30. The musical tells the story of King Sejong, from his days as crown prince to his reign as king, and of course, includes how he created the Korean alphabet, hangul. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. and tickets cost 20,000 won.

Both Koreans and foreigners can visit Ticket Link for tickets to all the programs, while foreigner-exclusive programs can only be purchased via Creatrip. Visitors must purchase an entrance ticket to the palaces to enjoy both the free and paid programs. A single ticket costs 3,000 won.

A "gung (palace) pass" that offers unlimited entry to all of Seoul's five palaces during the festival period, with T-money function, is available for purchase on online platforms such as Klook, Tippose, KKday and JollyBuy until April 26. [CULTURAL HERITAGE ADMINISTRATION]

An unlimited entry pass to the palaces, dubbed the "gung (palace) pass," went on sale on online platforms such as Klook, Tippose, KKday, JollyBuy, Imoto's Wi-Fi, Hanyouwang and Ticket Link. The pass will be available for purchase until April 26. It is priced at 10,000 won.

For more information about the festival, visit the official websites of the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation and the K-Royal Culture Festival.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]