The Gyeongbok Palace was completed during the reign of King Taejo and King Sejong in the early Joseon Dynasty. The most remarkable spacious feature of the palace is that it has an inner palace wall without an outer palace wall. The absence of the outer palace wall had its origin in the palace of the late Goryeo Dynasty which did not provide the outer palace wall. Gwanghwamoon was the main gate of the palace, and the office buildings of the Six Ministries were arranged on the right side in front of the main gate. A wide road called Six Ministries Avenue was made between the builidings. The avenue was completed during the reign of the third king of Joseon, Taejong, and it was assumed that this arrangement was influenced by the government office arrangements of Nanjing, the early capital city of the Ming Dynasty. Gwanghwamoon held national rituals as well as the civic and military state examinations nations in front of the gate. The avenue was decorated with flowers and silks when kings and the royal families, or Chinese envoys enter the gate, and the civilians watched the parade, Because there was no outer palace wall, all the events held at Gwanghwamoon and the Six Ministries Avenue ware opened to the public, it was the unique feature of Gyeongbok Palace that the palaces of Goryeo dynasty and China did not have.

• 김동욱 (경기대 건축학부) | Kim, Dong-Uk (Kyonggi University)