Unsung Heroes of National Treasures
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
There was nothing anybody could. So they watched, helplessly, Sungnyemun, better known as Namdaemun, the National Treasure No. 1, burn down in February.
Only after the fire had engulfed the symbol of the nation's capital, did Koreans seem to awaken to the importance of preserving their cultural heritage.
The disastrous fire to the gate was not the nation's first loss. In 2005, Naksan Temple in Gangwon Province burnt down, revealing how also vulnerable cultural heritages were to disaster because of poor security management.
The loss of the treasures was heartbreaking news not only for ordinary Koreans but also those who tried to protect the nation's treasures from destruction during wartime.
The Cultural Heritage Administration has published a book, ``Saving Korea's Treasures in Times of War.'' The book compiles 13 stories of heroes who saved national treasures during wartime in Korean history to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the nation.
The book covers the story of some Joseon scholars who climbed mountains carrying parts of the annals of the Joseon Kingdom on their backs during the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592 and foreigners who contributed a 10-story stone pagoda of Gyeongcheon Temple, which was taken to Japan, to return it home.
Kim Jung-dong, professor of Mokwon University, regained the remnants of Jaseondang in Gyeongbok Palace, a building constructed in 1430 in which the Crown Prince and his Princess resided, and opened it to the public in 80 years in 1996.The structure was destroyed by the Japanese government general in 1915 and then taken to Japan. Kim discovered the stone residuals of the building after a fire during the earthquake in Kanto in 1923. Since then, Kim has tried to recover the cultural remnants from Japan and finally got them back to Gyeongbok Palace.
Another figure is Ven. Chosan, who has been spearheading the inter-Korean project to recover the historic monument from Japan.
Ven. Chosan who headed the South delegation consisting of civic representatives and government officials, tried to restore Bukkwan Daechop-bi, a 300-year-old stone monument, in a joint effort with North Korean Buddhists.
The monument was erected in 1907 in Gilju County, now North Korea, to commemorate a Korean general who defeated a Japanese invasion in the 16th century.
A Japanese general took it to his home country during the Russo-Japanese war (1904-1905), and it has since been placed since then at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, which houses the remains of Japan's war dead including World War II criminals.
In August 1951, Lt. Col. Jang Ji-ryang, the operational staff officer of a South Korean fighter wing, was ordered by the U.S. commanders to bomb Haeinsa Temple, home of the Tripitaka Koreana, established in 802, during the battle for the Nakdong Perimeter.
But Jang refused the order and faced execution for subordination to protect the Tripitaka Koreana, but he was eventually pardoned when the course of the events became known.
Deoksu Palace, a walled compound of palaces inhabited by various Korean royalty until the Japanese occupation near the turn of the 20th century, is one of the best tourist spots in Seoul.
But this palace was almost in danger of destruction because it was being used as a North Korean army headquarters, and could have been shelled.
However, the palace was saved from the shelling during the Korean War thanks to U.S. artillery officer Lt. James H. Dill.
He did not order his guns to fire on the palace because he thought it was not right to destroy a country's historical relics to exterminate the enemy.
The book also introduces the story of Rev. Son Chi-hun, of the Order of St. Benedict Waegwan Abbey in Chilgok, North Gyeongsang Province, who persuaded St. Ottilien Archabbey in Emming, southern Germany, to give back paintings, taken to Germany by Norbert Weber, to its Korean branch.
The pieces are believed to have been taken to Germany in 1925 after Norbert Weber, a German monastery's abbot, collected them during his travels around Korea.
The Korean abbey will make the collection public in 2009, which marks the 100th anniversary of the St. Ottilien Abbey's work in Korea.