Examined in this article is the internal structure of the royal palace, and spaces arranged for state affairs and rituals. Correlative analysis of historiographic and archeological data related to royal palaces has been made as well. The result shows that the Shilla royal palace was equipped with areas specialized for specific functions, thanks to the organized condition of the government’s internal systems.
In the Early Ancient period(“Sang’go-gi, 上古期”), the "Nam-dang(Southern Building)’ structure, outside the palace in its southern location, not only served as the space for state rituals but also housed the political council, and was ultimately the space reserved for all governmental affairs including the daily governing duties of the King. Then, during the Middle Ancient period(“Jung’go-gi, 中古期”), the Kings’ governing was no longer done at Nam-dang but at the main structure inside the palace. Governmental offices, however, remained at Namdang at least in the early days of the Jung’go-gi period, as the governmental system was yet to be completed. Both the main structure inside the palace, and the Nam-dang outside, came to form the central axis of the royal palace.
During the rest of the Middle Ancient period, the structure of the government was finalized, and Nam-dang’s earlier functions gradually moved to other offices. In the end, it came to serve only as a space reserved for ceremonial rituals. During the reign of Jindeok King’s reign, Nam-dang was modified and renamed as Jo’weon-jeon(朝元殿), featuring influences from the ‘Tae’geuk-jeon(太極殿)’ and ‘Tae’geuk-gung(太極宮)’ structures of the Chinese Dang(唐) Dynasty. Also, with the completion of the governmental system, an official district was constructed in the northwest side of Weolseong Fortress(月城). The royal palace itself was formed with an outer ring and a middle ring, while the North gate(front gate of Weolseong) became the main portal of the former.
With all these changes, the Shilla royal palace came to display three layers(inner ring, middle ring and outer ring) as well as the official district. Central building of the inner ring was used as the governmental office of the King, while Central building of the middle ring was the Jo’weon-jeong structure which housed official ceremonies observing state rituals. All the rings were not able to observe the North/South orientation due to geographic figures like the Weolseong Fortress, but the overall structure of the palace resembled the Jang’an-seong castle(長安城) of the Dang dynasty, which also showed separations between the royal palace and official areas.