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Jeongjeon Hall (Main Hall)

Jeongjeon Hall (Main Hall)
This majestic building is the most important one of all the buildings standing in the precincts of Jongmyo Shrine, since it is here in the building and the front courtyard that the rites take place to honor the royal ancestors of Joseon. The building houses the ancestral tablets of 19 deceased Joseon kings and their queen consorts enshrined in 19 kan (kan refers to a space between two columns). The rest of the Joseon rulers -- whose achievements are less significant -- and their consorts have their spirits tablets enshrined in a separate, slightly smaller shrine hall called Yeongnyeongjeon Hall (Hall of Eternal Peace). In 1995, Jongmyo Shrine was inscribed in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites for its outstanding architectural value combined with the ancestral rite involving a wealth of ritual performances held at the shrine for over 600 years.

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The moon terraces in front of Jongmyo’s two shrine buildings are paved with roughly hewn stone slabs. The paving stones feature uneven surfaces and various shapes and sizes, which help prevent dazzling ritual participants, including officiants, and slipping on wet days.The main shrine building of Jongmyo Shrine has two wings attached to it on both sides, each of which has a two-kan structure (each kan refers to a space between two columns).Each spirit’s chamber in the Main Hall of Jongmyo Shrine has a pair of plank doors that are open only during the ancestral services. Offering tables are set just in front of the chamber with the doors open. Each pair of doors has a small gap between them, made by warping the planks intentionally, probably for ventilation and, more importantly, free passage by the ancestral spirits.Dongwollang Gallery is where important ceremonies take place during a seasonal royal ancestral memorial service. A view to the spirit's chambers from midway of the stairs leading to the gallery creates a sense of spatial depth to the west.Unlike its twin in the east, this gallery, attached to the main shrine building on its west, is enclosed with walls and used as storage.Between the eastern entrance to Jeongjeon Hall (Main Hall) and its rear area is a small platform called Socha where a tent is set up for the king to rest when he participated in incense buring service during the royal ancestral rites.The spirit’s chamber for King Taejo, founder of the Joseon Dynasty, is located at the westernmost part of Jeongjeon Hall (Main Hall) because the shrine is designed to have the ancestral tablet of the oldest ancestor at the westernmost chamber and his youngest descendant at the easternmost chamber.Built to honor the royal ancestors of Joseon, the original shrine was a small, five-bay building. Since then, the shrine has continued to be expanded to house the spirit tablets of the Joseon monarchs and their consorts spanning 19 generations. Today, over 500 years later, it has the current structure covered with a long roof.The front of Jeongjeon Hall (Main Hall) of Jongmyo Shrine features a long sequence of round and tall wooden columns creating an exceptionally solemn space where offerings have been made to the royal ancestral spirits during the rites.The Lower Moon Terrace located below the Upper Moon Terrace is where Jeongdaeeopjiak (Music for the Determination of Great Undertaking) -- a work of ritual music praising the military valor and achievement of the royal ancestors or Joseon -- is performed along with Mumu (Military Dance) during each ancestral service. On the stone railings of the stairway linking the upper and lower terraces are cloud motifs carved in relief, symbolizing the heavens where the royal ancestral spirits are in peaceful rest.This annex on the east of Jeongjeon Hall (Main Hall) Jongmyo’s main shrine hall was used to store sacrificial vessels. It was built on its current location in 1836 when Jeongjeon Hall the main shrine hall was expanded.This annex on the west of Jeongjeon Hall (Main Hall) was used to store various ritual implements. Inside the room is a large cupboard with three shelves used for the storage of sacrificial vessels.There are two stone-paved platforms in front of Jeongjeon Hall (Main Hall), where ritual music and dance are performed during each seasonal royal ancestral service. The performances presented on the Upper Moon Terrace are Botaepyeongjiak (Music for the Preservation of Great Peace), a musical piece praising the knowledge and wisdom of the royal ancestors, and Munmu (Civil Dance).This vessel, installed under the floor of each spirit’s chamber, is used for rite officiants to pour wild ginger wine into it three times when inviting the spirits of the royal ancestors of Joseon.Each spirit’s chamber has a book chest west of the ancestral tablet(s), storing Golden, Jade, and Bamboo Books recording the achievements made by the king and his consort(s) when they were alive as well as Gukjobogam (The Treasure Mirror of the Dynasty), a book of the main achievements made throughout the entire dynasty. That is why the spirit’s chamber is often regarded as an epitome of each ruler’s entire life.The Joseon Dynasty maintained the tradition of honoring spirit tablets called Sinju (“column of the spirit”), which were believed to house royal ancestral spirits. In Jongmyo Shrine, each spirit’s chamber stores the spirit tablets of -- from the west -- the king and his queen. The spirit tablets enshrined here are regarded as extremely valuable because most of these are originals; some are reproductions whose originals were damaged by wars.In the main shrine building of the Jongmyo Shrine are the 19 spirit’s chambers enshrining the spirit tablets of a total of 49 royal ancestors of the Joseon Dynasty and the Great Han Empire. Each chamber, decorated with yellow curtains and drapes to create the comfortable atmosphere of a royal bedchamber, enshrines the spirit tablets of a king and his queen consorts(s) on its northern wall.Each spirit’s chamber has a “treasure casket” east of the spirit tablet(s) storing Golden and Jade Seals engraved with various honorary titles given to the king and his consort(s). Among the titles, posthumous ones (Siho) were given according to the way of life maintained by the recipients when they were still alive and seals and books related to them; “shrine titles” (Myoho) were given according to their achievement as a ruler and written down on their spirit tablet.

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