Royal Culture Festival

'Royal Culture Festival' is Korea's largest national heritage festival, held each spring and autumn at Seoul's five palaces — Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Deoksugung, Changgyeonggung and Gyeonghuigung — and at Jongmyo Shrine. Taking the palaces as its stage, it presents Korean traditional culture through performances, exhibitions, hands-on programs and rite reenactments. Hosted by the Korea Heritage Service and organized by the Korea Heritage Agency, the festival reaches its 12th edition this year under the theme 'Palaces, awakening art', extending the palaces beyond places for viewing heritage into culture and arts stages where the sources of K-culture can be experienced. The spring 2026 edition drew some 725,000 visitors, the highest attendance on record. This edition draws on the seasonal character of the palaces in autumn, running exhibitions, tours and hands-on programs by day that focus on the palaces' spaces and history, and expanding performances and hands-on programs by night set against the palace halls and natural scenery, for an experience distinct from the spring edition. At 5 p.m. on Tuesday October 6, the day before the festival opens, a special performance — KBS2's 'Immortal Songs: 2026 Royal Culture Festival Special' — is staged at the Heungnyemun Gate plaza of Gyeongbokgung to celebrate the start of the autumn festival. On the theme 'Palaces, awakening art', it presents a lineup spanning gugak to K-pop for all generations. Admission is free, and audience applications can be made on the official KBS 'Immortal Songs' website.