Court Flower Experience at Gyeongbokgung: Guide to the 2026 Gyeongbokgung Court Flowers Program

The court flower experience was part of “Gyeongbokgung, Time Travel – Palace Newcomer,” an immersive visitor program held during the 2026 Spring Royal Culture Festival. For readers searching for Gyeongbokgung Court Flowers, the key point is that this was a hands-on court craft session led by Choi Sung-woo, a holder of the National Intangible Heritage for court flower craft, with participants making a silk “Hongdoiljihwa.” ¹

The program has already taken place: it ran from April 25 to 29, 2026, around Gyeongbokgung Palace. Because the current date is May 1, 2026, the information below is best used as a clear record of what was offered, where it happened, and what made the court flower session distinct. ¹

Court Flower Experience: What It Was

The court flower session belonged to the palace craft track inside “Gyeongbokgung, Time Travel – Palace Newcomer.” The overall program was designed as an audience-immersive experience: participants wore traditional clothing, joined a performance element, and then selected one activity from court craft, court dance, or court painting. ¹

Within the craft options, the court flower program focused on making “Hongdoiljihwa” with silk. The Seoul Culture Portal described the activity as a silk flower-making experience connected to flowers that decorated royal banquets, with Choi Sung-woo participating as the instructor. ²

Court flower craft is not simply decorative paper work. The Korea Heritage Agency’s related announcement explained that court flowers are made by shaping flowers from silk and paper, and noted the depth of labor involved: even when several people work together, completing one hwajun can take more than six months. ³ That context helps explain why a short public session would likely introduce participants to the technique and meaning of the craft rather than reproduce the full traditional production process.

The presence of a National Intangible Heritage holder also shaped the value of the session. Choi Sung-woo was identified in official program information as the holder responsible for the court craft 1 course, while other reporting on the festival also confirmed the participation of intangible heritage transmitters in palace-based craft and performance programs. ^{1 4}

Key Details for Visitors and Researchers

The Seoul Culture Portal listed two daily sessions for the broader experience: the first from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and the second from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. It also described the event as an education and experience program held around Gyeongbokgung Palace. ²

The wider 2026 Spring Royal Culture Festival opened on April 24, 2026, and included 24 programs across the five major palaces and Jongmyo: Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung, Deoksugung, Gyeonghuigung, and Jongmyo. At Gyeongbokgung, “Gyeongbokgung, Time Travel” was scheduled from April 25 to 29, with content connected to palace duties in major spaces such as Geunjeongjeon, Sujeongjeon, Gangnyeongjeon, and Jagyeongjeon. ⁵

For the court flower experience specifically, April 29 received additional coverage because Choi Sung-woo and other intangible heritage practitioners were reported as appearing as experience instructors at 11:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. for “Gyeongbokgung, Time Travel: Palace Newcomer.” ⁶

A short official comment from Jin Mi-kyung of the Royal Culture Festival team framed the purpose of this kind of programming as allowing citizens to directly see and feel “hand skills and movements containing hundreds of years.” ³ In practical terms, that is the core reason this court flower session stood out: it placed a formal palace craft inside a participatory palace setting rather than presenting it only as an exhibit.

How to Understand the Craft Track

The court flower activity should be understood as one option within a broader palace newcomer format. Participants did not only sit down for a craft class; the listed sequence involved wearing traditional clothing, taking part in a performance, and then choosing a hands-on experience from the available categories. ¹

For visitors comparing the tracks, the court flower option was the most directly tied to decorative palace craft. The source material also mentions court dance and court painting as alternatives, but the court craft 1 course was specifically connected to Choi Sung-woo and the making of silk “Hongdoiljihwa.” ¹

The term Gyeongbokgung Court Flowers is a useful English search phrase for this experience, but the official program title was not simply a flower class. It was embedded in “Gyeongbokgung, Time Travel – Palace Newcomer,” a program that used the palace site, costume, performance, and craft to create an immersive introduction to court culture. ¹

작성자 소개

Patrick Choi

Administrator

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