Nighttime tours of Changgyeonggung to open in April

Nighttime tours will be available from as early as April this year at Changgyeonggung, one of the five royal palaces in Seoul connected with the Joseon era (1392-1910), the Cultural Heritage Administration said Monday.

The program, already available in the three other agency-run palaces including the main palace Gyeongbokgung, is most likely to take place April 27 through May 5. Gyeonghuigung is under supervision by the Seoul city government.

During that period, the CHA also holds its annual K-Royal Culture Festival -- an event to raise awareness of the five Joseon-era palaces as well as a shrine and an altar.

“The nighttime program at Changgyeonggung will be different from all the others we’ve seen as we will be introducing some cutting-edge technologies like theatrical lighting to entertain guests,” a CHA official said, noting the agency had received positive reviews in a trial run last year.

The official added that the agency will also expand its assistance for blind people visiting the shrine Jongmyo, which is also nearby in Seoul. Tours led by specialists for the visually impaired, conducted 60 times last year at the four agency-run palaces, will take place more often and include the shrine from July at the earliest, according to the CHA.

Meanwhile, the agency said it has opened a new one-stop website for tourists looking to book visits to these historic sites, doing away with multiple websites for separate cultural heritage sites. The website is offered in English, Japanese and Chinese.

For those visiting the website from Monday to Sunday, the agency will give out gifts if they submit a screen grab of what they like on the website or answers to a pop quiz posted there. Winners will be randomly selected.