CASTLE-22 KYOTO IMPERIAL PALACE

Kyoto-gosho is a representative building serving as an imperial palace in the city of Kyoto in the prefecture of the same name on the island of Honshu. For a large part of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the palace served as the official seat of the Emperor of Japan, and its construction was initiated in 1877, which makes it the latest built of all imperial residences. Kyoto-gosho stands in the area of vast palace gardens (Japanese: Kyoto-gyoen), which are rectangular in shape with sides of 1300 and 700 meters. The Kyoto-gosho Palace Complex includes a building called Shishinden. It is the most important representative building in the entire complex, measuring 33 by 23 meters, which was erected in the traditional Japanese architectural style. Many official ceremonies with the Taisho and Showa emperors (1912-1989) took place at this facility. At present, the Kyoto-gosho complex, together with Shishinden, is open to the public and serves as a great tourist attraction.