“If the West has the Parthenon, the East has Jongmyo.” — Seiichi Shirai

Where the spirit tablets of 49 Joseon kings and queens are enshrined. One of the oldest and most intact royal shrines in the world. Quiet, solemn, and completely different from the palaces.

Yes, especially if you want to see a side of Korean history that the palaces do not show. The palaces are where kings lived. Jongmyo is where they were honored after death. The long, austere stone courtyard of Jeongjeon (the main hall) is one of the most striking spaces in Seoul. No bright colors, no ornate decoration. Just scale and silence.

Despite being in the middle of Seoul, the surrounding area has no tall buildings, so the shrine feels remarkably still and removed from the city.

One important thing: on most days, you can only enter with a guided tour. Saturday is the exception. You can walk around freely on Saturdays, which makes it the best day to visit.

Jongmyo gets less attention from tourists than the palaces, but among architects it is the opposite. It is one of the most respected buildings in Korea, and some of the biggest names in architecture have gone out of their way to visit.

Gehry visited Jongmyo multiple times over 20 years. On his return visit in 2014, he told his companions: “Such a majestic space is hard to find anywhere in the world. If I had to name a place where I felt something similar, perhaps the Parthenon?” He also said Koreans should be grateful to have this building.

Rem Koolhaas, Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid, and Riken Yamamoto have also visited. Yamamoto has said Jongmyo is his favorite Korean traditional building, a place where you feel a powerful sense of space that modern architecture cannot replicate. Architectural photographer Helene Binet published a book dedicated solely to Jongmyo, Byeongsan Seowon, and Soswaewon, three Korean sites she considered worthy of standing alongside any architecture in the world.

What makes Jongmyo resonate with modern architects is that it already does what modernism tries to do. Long horizontal lines, repeated columns, restrained materials, and a space that gets its power from emptiness rather than decoration. It is not a stretch to say the spatial logic of Jongmyo has more in common with the 9/11 Memorial in New York than with the palaces next door.

The main hall. The longest wooden structure in Korea, stretching 101 metres with 19 spirit chambers in a row. The sheer length of the building and the empty stone courtyard in front of it create an atmosphere that is hard to describe. You just have to stand there.

The secondary shrine hall. Smaller than Jeongjeon but equally atmospheric. Houses the tablets of kings and queens who were moved from the main hall.

The royal ancestral rite ceremony, held on the first Sunday of May and first Saturday of November. The ritual includes Jongmyo Jeryeak, the court music and dance that has been performed for over 600 years. Both are UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. If you can time your visit around early May, it is worth seeing.

Since October 2024, a walking passage between Jongmyo and Changgyeonggung Palace has been reopened after being separated for about 90 years. Available on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Each site needs a separate ticket.