This is sober stuff. I don't know if you can say that you like it or not - it's meant as a shrine. Although I did some homework I didn't really get a grip on this monument during my first visit in 2001.

The shrine nowadays can only be visited with a guide (except on Saturdays, when you can walk around on your own freely). Four times a day there is a guided tour in English. I bought a ticket for the tour at 4 p.m., a tour that still attracted 25-30 people.

In this shrine are kept the so-called memorial tablets for the kings and queens of the last dynasty of Korea. Their bodies are buried elsewhere. Twice a year, these ancestors are honored by a big ritual of song, dance and music in the Confucian tradition. The rest of the year the complex is peaceful and quiet. The tablets are kept behind closed doors. You have to watch your step walking here: the spirits have their own path that leads directly to the shrine.

The tablets of the most important kings are located in the main building on the site: an elongated building with 35 rooms on a vast square. Next to it is a similar building for the less important ancestors. In the freezing cold of early January, it is all very austere, but I'm glad I went for a second time to hear more of the explanations from the guide.