The Restoration of the Interior Decoration of the Korean Early Modern Royal Palace: Representation of the Wallpaper Design of Huijeongdang’s New Building

Abstract

Background Through a recent field investigation, it was discovered that the elements of the interior decoration from 1920, when the Huijeongdang of Changdeokgung Palace was built, have been preserved until now. Although the eclectic interior decoration of Huijeongdang has European decorative elements, it is clearly distinguished from European contemporary styles. The Huijeongdang is a very valuable cultural heritage that shows the transitional characteristics from the pre-modern era to the modern era, which was considered a period of disconnection in Korean design history. In 2021, Huijeongdang's environmental improvement project was carried out, and in the process, it was attempted to represent the interior wall decoration of the eclectic style palace for the first time in Korea. Through this study, we expect that the empirical process of interior decoration restoration in Korea during the transition period will be shared. Methods First, through literature and previous studies, the background of the establishment of Huijeongdang during the transitional period between pre-modern and modern era and furthermore, the background of in which the interior space was created in the eclectic style was reviewed. Second, historical materials collected through field investigation were classified and systematized to select a representation target period. In addition, to derive practical data required for design restoration of the selected representation items, analysis of wallpaper design, color analysis, and pigment analysis through experiments were performed. Third, the design was represented using the derived results, and the space was restored by the reproduction. Fourth, we attempted to derive the meaning and limitations of the results of this study from the point of view of design history. Results Design reproduction was carried out for 11 types of wallpaper that were presumed to have been used during the first construction period of Huijeongdang through field research and historical evidence. By digital editing, the shape of the pattern was restored and drawn. Then, the digital color value L*a*b* was measured using a colorimeter. In addition, optical microscope observation and pigment analysis were performed to determine the color to be applied to design representation. 11 types of reproduced wallpapers were applied according to the location discovered during the field investigation. Through this process, the overall interior decoration of the three rooms and one corridor in Huijeongdang's new building were restored. Conclusions The restoration of the interior wall decoration of Huijeongdang, which became an empirical opportunity for this study, is the first case of space restoration through design representation attempted in the traditional royal palace in Korea. Unlike the preservation-oriented restoration that is carried out according to historical evidence, the qualitative judgments of the designer are very important in the process of representation and reproduction planning. This suggests the necessity of designer’s participation in the field of research on cultural heritage. In addition, it is a very meaningful attempt in that the research opens an opportunity to study modernity from a different perspective in the study of Korean design history. It is expected that this study can contribute to being used as practical data for related projects in the future.