Jongmyo Shrine

Confucian royal ritual survives nowhere more authentically than at Jongmyo. The Seoul shrine, standing in its current form since the 16th century, holds the spirit tablets of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), honoured in ceremonies that fuse music, song and dance in an unbroken line reaching back to the 14th century. The oldest such royal shrine preserved anywhere, Jongmyo was inscribed by UNESCO in 1995.