Jeongjeon Hall at Jongmyo Shrine after renovation. (Korea Heritage Service)

By Lee Jihae

Forty-nine ancestral tablets from the royal courts of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) and the Korean Empire (1897-1910) will be returned to Jongmyo Shrine in Seoul.

The Korea Heritage Service on April 1 announced its hosting of a welcoming ceremony on April 20 for the relics, which are being returned to Jeongjeon Hall, aka Main Hall of Jongmyo Shrine, whose renovation and maintenance were completed after five years.

The hall began undergoing renovation from 2020, and the tablets there were temporarily relocated in June 2021 to the former Seonwonjeon Hall, where portraits of Joseon kings were enshrined, at Changdeokgung Palace.

The ceremony's procession on April 20 will start at 2 p.m. at Changdeokgung and go through Gwanghwamun Gate, Sejongdae-ro intersection, Jonggak Station and finally Jongmyo. Scheduled traditional performing arts in front of Gwanghwamun's woldae (stone-built platform) will include jultagi (tightrope walking) and talchum (mask dance)

Inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage in 1995, the shrine is a national landmark where the tablets are stored and memorial rituals held.

Jeongjeon was designated a National Treasure in 1985 as the central building at the shrine. Its long and stretched out form makes it the country's single longest building.

jihlee08@korea.kr