Donggwangsan

Donggwangsan (Menghean: 동광산 / 東光山; literally "mountain of eastern light") is a multi-story palace building in central Donggyŏng, Menghe. It serves as the official residence and workplace of the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Menghe, and the meeting site of the Supreme Council itself, in addition to hosting a number of supporting central government functions. "Donggwangsan" is sometimes used as a metonym for the Menghean central government.

The Donggwangsan Palace site has historically been used by a number of government buildings, dating back to the Mogryŏn-gu Fort established in the 5th century CE. The palace was destroyed and rebuilt a number of times between then and the present, with its most recent restoration taking place in 1964-1968. As such, the present building has a distinctly neo-traditional style, and features modern amenities like elevators and running water.

Location

The Donggwangsan Palace sits in the center of Donggyŏng, at the heart of the Old City district. It lies on the Northern Meridian Road, which runs through the city on a north-south axis, and faces Heroes' Square, a 200-by-500-meter plaza which marked the center of the Decembrist Revolution. Menghe's National Day parade runs southward along the Northern Meridian Road past the building's viewing stand, and the square is often used for public events.

By tradition, most palaces and large mansions in Menghe are built facing directly south, so that the facade is warmed by the sun during the summer months and cooled by the shade during the winter months. In its current form, Donggwangsan is an exception: it faces directly east. The Sinyi rulers chose this orientation for their 1885 reconstruction, as it faced the rising sun and thus symbolized national renewal; for this reason, it was also known as the Choyang ("facing the sun") palace.

History

The first government building to occupy the Donggwangsan site was built in the 5th century, during the Five States and Seven Fiefdoms period. After burning down Jangpyŏng, the former capital of Donghae State, the Tae invaders built a new fort on Mogryŏn-gu (Magnolia Hill) to guard the mouth of the Ryŏnggang river. The settlement which grew around it became Kimsŏng, later renamed Donggyŏng, and the fort was repurposed as the city's government center.

In 874 CE, during the Sung dynasty, the old castle building was replaced with a much larger palace complex, which would serve as the seat of the governor of Donghae Province. Magnolia Hill and the old castle foundation were leveled to form an artificial mound containing the governor's reception hall and court; his residence was located to the east, and various government buildings were spread throughout the rest of the rectangular palace complex.

The extent of this palace complex waxed and waned over the years, though the location of its central audience hall remained constant, with the artificial platform at its base surviving through the years. The first emperor of the Yi dynasty ordered that the private residence section be scaled down, and added a military-style wall to the outskirts. A fire leveled most of the buildings in 1612, and they were rebuilt over the next few years, with a major expansion to the private residence section in 1807.

During the Three States Period, Kimsŏng was declared the provisional capital of the State of Sinyi, and the Mogryŏn-gu palace was renovated to serve as the national center of government. After another fire swept through the area in 1884, the new Sinyi government ordered the construction of a new central government complex. The multi-story residence and administration hall built atop the squared-off hill was the first east-facing iteration, and the first to bear the name Donggwangsan; it bore a mix of Western and traditional architectural styles. The surrounding administration buildings were also rebuilt for a more streamlined government. After Menghe's unification in 1900, Donggwangsan was repurposed as the residence and office of the Prime Minister.

An electrical fire gutted the Donggwangsan building in 1911, leading to a second renovation. Leading Menghean architects joined a competition to submit new proposals; the winner was Chae Hyŏn-su, who proposed a castle-like structure with a three-story-tall extended stone base rising from the center of the old platform and an open plaza around it. The former site of the governor's personal residence was converted to a sprawling public garden, extending eastward in front of the new building's facade. After Kwon Chong-hoon's military coup, the Prime Minister's quarters became the official residence of the Emperor of Menghe.

The palace building was severely damaged by allied bombing in 1945; the stone second tier was partially collapsed, and the palace building on top of it was gutted by fire. The Allied Occupation government relocated its offices to the City Hall building in Sunju, where a new Presidential Palace was built for the Republic of Menghe government. A small operation in 1946 rebuilt the collapsed wall and shored up the upper structure, and a renovation effort was undertaken in 1955 with the intention of completing the building as a museum. It was suspended in 1956 due to a shortage of funds.

After declaring victory in the Menghean War of Liberation, Sun Tae-jun ordered a comprehensive effort to rebuild and expand Donggwangsan as the DPRM's new seat of government, hoping that the reconstruction of the long-incomplete structure would motivate efforts at the reconstruction of Menghe itself. Yang Man-su, a renowned prewar architect, produced the new design in collaboration with a committee of other architects. Construction began in February 1965 and proceeded at an expedited pace, ending in April 1967. The former Central Garden, which had been razed by fire and left as a marketplace, was converted to People's Square; a new garden was opened north of the palace, in a space once occupied by the palace grounds and stables.

Yang Man-su's version of the palace still stands today, with minor internal renovations. The headquarters building of the Menghean Socialist Party was added off the southern side in 1994, and an expanded visitor center was added off the northeastern corner in 1997.

Architecture

The current Donggwangsan palace follows a neo-traditional style, reminiscent in concept of the two previous iterations but differing in execution. The walls are made of gray stone, and are essentially Western in construction, though the rows of square columns along the sides are meant to be reminiscent of the wooden pillars used in older Menghean palaces. The roof is traditional in design, with upturned eaves; the light-blue tiles are typical of those used on Yi dynasty government buildings. A two-faced clock tower sits at each corner of the outer ring.

Palace Grounds

Apart from the rebuilt palace itself, the Donggwangsan area contains a number of other core government buildings within a 400-by-400-meter square; these are sometimes referred to as the Palace Grounds. Roughly one-half of this area consists of gardens open to the general public, while the rest, separated by a stone wall, contains

Layout

Structurally, Donggwangsan is divided into two sections: the outer ring, and the inner ring. The outer ring is four stories tall, not including the raised foundation, and houses mainly administrative offices. The inner ring, which it encircles, stands upon a reinforced version of the original three-story raised tier, and consists of four stories of administrative rooms plus utility spaces in the attics. The inner tier contains the Supreme Council meeting room and the Chairman's private residence, as well as guest rooms, top executive office space, and a small private garden.

Security and accessibility

When Yang Man-su designed the new central building in 1964, he deliberately chose an accessible layout which would keep it accessible to ordinary citizens, in contrast to the castle-like citadel of the previous Donggwangsan. The entire outer ring was open to visitors, and its amenities included a history museum, a dining area, and a small concert hall. Checkpoints were installed at the ground-level doors to the old citadel and the fourth-story doors to the inner ring, which housed the General-Secretary's living quarters and working office.

As state concerns over security grew, public accessibility was steadily reduced. During Sim Jin-hwan's term in office, a wrought-iron fence was built around the southeastern corner of the complex, setting aside a section of the grounds for top government and party officials. The fourth floor of the outer ring was also set aside for State and Party officials with adequate clearance.

The Donggwangsan complex's security measures were comprehensively upgraded in 2003 during renovation of the museum hall. The palace museum section, which now comprises three stories on half of the outer ring, is completely separate from the rest of the palace interior, with internal doorways and upper stairwells bricked over and re-finished to match the surrounding architecture. The public section of the palace grounds is separated from the street by a wrought-iron fence, and visitors must enter through one of three security checks. The inner grounds are surrounded by a 4-meter-high stone wall, built in place of the earlier fence, and there are two gates between the inner and public sections, each one staffed by armed guards. Guards at these checkpoints also have full view of the corners of the office wings that face the public grounds, and can apprehend anyone who tries to climb Donggwangsan's stone foundations.

The inner grounds open directly onto the street through two large checkpoints; none of the edge buildings are directly accessible from the street, save for the seats in front of the parade viewing stand, which are normally roped off. Gates on either side of the viewing stand lead to an underground parking garage for staff cars, but these are normally sealed off. Two 14th-century stone towers lying at the edges of the palace grounds have been repurposed as guard stations, and a large "barracks structure" inside the inner grounds appears to house some staff or full-time guards; its exact purpose is unclear.

See also

• National Assembly (Menghe)
• Government of Menghe