Major Cultural Heritage Projects in 2010
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Repoter
The year 2010 will be a fruitful year with multiple diverse cultural heritage projects. The Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) will complete its restoration project of the Gwanghwamun Gate and open it to the public in October.
Also, the government will push to register Gyeongju’s Yangdong Village and Andong’s Hahoe Village in North Gyeongsang Province, as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The cultural authorities will also step up efforts to redeem the Joseon Royal Protocols from other countries.
Restored Gwanghwamun in October
One of the biggest projects of the CHA is to promote royal tombs and palaces as tourism resources.
The administration will hold a grand event to mark the completion of the reconstruction of Gwanghwamun Gate, the main entrance to Gyeongbok Palace, in October three years after it began the project in December 2006.
Gwanghwamun was first built in 1395, the fourth year of King Taejo of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), but was burnt down during the Japanese invasion in the late 16th century.
It was restored in the reign of King Gojong in 1865, but Japanese Imperialists moved the building to the northern part of the palace during the early 20th century.
Many claimed that the Japanese rotated its facade slightly to face a Japanese Shinto shrine then located on Mt. Namsan, which skewed the palace’s overall design.
It was destroyed again during the Korean War, but was rebuilt in 1968. However, it was reconstructed in concrete not wood, and many objected to its location.
At a cost of 28.1 billion won, the CHA demolished the gate and rebuilt it in wood. The administration said that it would also restore a large stone platform and two guardian statues originally positioned in front of the gate.
Also, the gate location has been moved 14.5 meters to the south and rotated 5.6 degrees clockwise to its original position. The new building will be two-thirds the size of the last restored version.
Toward Next World Heritages
The cultural administration is also pushing to register Gyeongju's Yangdong Village and Andong's Hahoe Village ― representative folk villages whose buildings have stood where they are for centuries ― as UNESCO World Heritage Sites this year.
Yangdong located in the city of Gyeongju, the old capital of the Silla Kingdom, is designated as Important Folklore Materials No. 189. The village has continued to prosper since its founding in the 15th century. Within Yangdong, folk customs as well as the traditional buildings of the Joseon Kingdom are well preserved. It also illustrates the social characteristics of the time, which was a highly stratified society based on status. Yangdong has maintained its yangban (aristocratic class) tradition and culture over the centuries.
Hahoe Village in Andong is a one-clan community. Families of the Pungsan Yu clan settled here one after another from the 16th century, in the mid Joseon Kingdom. Their time-honored residences, Confucian school, and many other ancient buildings are preserved intact, together with their unique folk arts, including the Hahoe Mask Dance Drama, called Pyolshin-gat, a shamanist rite venerating the tutelary communal spirits. Hahoe contains rare and invaluable cultural vestiges that need to be preserved in good condition in this ever-changing era.
Also, the government will submit nine cultural assets, including the Daegokcheon Stonewall Paintings, on the tentative list to the UNESCO World Heritages registration and ``Ilseongnok’’ (Records of Daily Reflections of Joseon Kingdom) as a UNESCO Memory of the World Inscription.
Other Events
The government will renovate Seokjojeon in Deoksu Palace, the last structure constructed during the Joseon Kingdom to bring it back to its original layout during the reign of King Gojong (1852-1919), at a cost of 9 billion won over three years. King Gojong used to work in the Western-style Seokjojeon. The reconstruction will be opened to the public as a historical museum to show the late Joseon royal culture and traditions by 2012.
The government will cooperate with other relevant agencies to reclaim the Joseon Royal Protocols, which are now housed in several places such as the Japanese Imperial Household Agency and the French National Library.
The Joseon Royal Protocols represent the unique tradition of compiling detailed reports on major state rites and events in the royal household throughout its five-century rule. These reports were usually accompanied by colorful illustrations. They were primarily intended for use by the king and concerned offices as references for organizing similar events.
In 2007, a total of 2,940 volumes of 546 protocols at the Kyujanggak Institute of Korean Studies and 529 volumes of 287 protocols at the Jangseogak Archives were placed on the UNESCO list of documentary literature of ``outstanding universal value.’’