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Members of the Jongmyo Rites Preservation Society carry memorial tablets from Jongmyo to Changdeok Palace on Saturday. (Kang Chang-kwang/The Hankyoreh)

Ahead of upcoming repairs at Jongmyo, the royal ancestral shrine for the Joseon Dynasty, all 49 memorial tablets — wooden tablets with the deceased’s name on them — that were enshrined there were moved to the old Sunwonjeon House at Changdeok Palace on Saturday.

Members of the Jongmyo Rites Preservation Society carry memorial tablets from Jongmyo to Changdeok Palace on Saturday. (Kang Chang-kwang/The Hankyoreh)

The last time they were moved from Jongmyo was in 1870, which was also because of repairs.

Members of the Jongmyo Rites Preservation Society carry memorial tablets from Jongmyo to Changdeok Palace on Saturday. (Kang Chang-kwang/The Hankyoreh)

The old Sunwonjeon House is where royal portraits are kept and ancestral rites are held.

Members of the Jongmyo Rites Preservation Society bow down to pay respect to memorial tablets after they were moved and sealed at the old Sunwonjeon House at Changdeok Palace on Saturday. (Kang Chang-kwang/The Hankyoreh)

Repairs began last year after water leakage was found in the main building of Jongmyo in 2015.

Members of the Jongmyo Rites Preservation Society perform ancestral rites before moving memorial tablets from Jongmyo to Changdeok Palace on Saturday. (provided by the Cultural Heritage Administration)

The Cultural Heritage Administration plans to recreate the moving rite for the memorial tablets next year once Jongmyo reopens.

Members of the Jongmyo Rites Preservation Society carry memorial tablets from Jongmyo to Changdeok Palace on Saturday. (provided by the Cultural Heritage Administration)

By Kang Chang-kwang, staff photographer

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