Seokjojeon

Seokjojeon
석조전; 石造殿
Main building (top) and West Wing (bottom)
Etymology	Hall made of stone
General information
Location	Deoksugung, Seoul, South Korea
Coordinates	37°33′59″N 126°58′27″E / 37.5664°N 126.9742°E / 37.5664; 126.9742
Current tenants	Korean Empire History Museum
Construction started	1900 (1900)
Completed	April 1910 (1910-04)
Client	House of Yi
Technical details
Floor count	3 (2 above ground, 1 below)
Design and construction
Architect(s)	John Reginald Harding
Korean name
Hangul	석조전
Hanja	石造殿
Revised Romanization	Seokjojeon
McCune–Reischauer	Sŏkchojŏn

Seokjojeon (Korean: 석조전; lit. Hall made of stone^[1]) is a former imperial palace building of the Korean Empire that is located inside the palace Deoksugung in Seoul, South Korea. The main building is Korea's first Western-style neoclassical château made entirely of granite and bricks. It was completed in 1910 as a residence for the Korean royal family and now serves as the Daehan Empire History Museum. The building also has an adjacent West Wing that was completed in 1938 and now serves as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Deoksugung branch.

The main building was originally meant to serve as a modern, Western seat of the Korean Empire. British people designed and furnished the building in Western style. Months after the building's completion, Korea was annexed by Japan. The Korean royal family continued to live in and use the building until the 1919 death of Gojong, the penultimate Korean monarch. Afterwards, it came to be used to entertain and house Japanese dignitaries. It was then made into the Seokjojeon Art Museum in 1933. Upon the completion of the West Wing building, both buildings were together considered the Yi Royal Family Art Museum [ko].

After the 1945 liberation of Korea, the buildings served a number of purposes. The main building was heavily damaged during the 1950–1953 Korean War and then repaired. In 1998, the West Wing was made part of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. In the late 2000s, the main building began to be converted into the Daehan Empire History Museum, which opened in 2014.