By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
Korean relics from the National Museum of Korea are on display at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia to commemorate the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relation between Korea and Russia.
The biggest overseas exhibition of Korean artifacts titled "Wind in the Pines: 5,000 Years of Korean Art" showcases 354 masterful pieces, including pots dating back to 3,000 B.C., a gold crown and belt excavated from Seobong Tomb of the Silla Kingdom (57 B.C.-935 A.D.) to Kim Hong-do's paintings from the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910).
The event is also part of the cultural exchange between the two museums after the Korean museum hosted "The Scythian Gold" exhibition, which presented 230 pieces of Russian nomadic artwork here in 1991.
The Korean treasures on display in Nicholas Hall, the museum's largest room, consist of five themes chronologically arranged dating from the Neolithic to the Joseon era.
The first section featuring the prehistoric age to the Samhan age (108-57 B.C.) displays comb-patterned earthenware from the Neolithic era and a stone dagger, "Paljuryeong" (a tool for incantatory rituals used in folk-religion or belief in village spirits) and a patterned mirror from the Bronze Age.
The second part is the arts of the Three Kingdoms (57 BC.-668 A.D.) and highlights decorative earthenware pottery, six gold-leaf crowns, golden belts found in the burial mounds of the Silla Kingdom, along with a 36-centimeter long, decorated treasured sword, intricate earrings, rings and bracelets. Other jewelry includes glass and jade necklaces and curved jade pendants.
In the Unified Silla (668-935) section is a granite Buddha statue, a bronze bodhisattva figures and a bronze Buddhist bell adorned with dragons along with diverse patterned earthenware.
The representative celadon and metal crafts of the Goryeo Kingdom (918-1392) that reflect Buddhist culture and arts are exhibited in the fourth part of the exhibition. The fifth section displays the Joseon (1392-1910)'s white pottery glazed with cobalt decoration and portraits, folk paintings, mother-of-pearl crafts and beautiful ox-horn boxes decorated with animal images, as well as items of wooden furniture.
The Russian museum runs an educational program in which visitors can learn about Korean history and culture and experience Korean crafts. It will also invite Russian communities who are interested in Korea to the exhibition to offer them the opportunity to learn about Korean traditions.
The State Hermitage Museum was established in 1764 and is one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, along with the Louvre Museum, the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum holds some 3 million items from paintings and weapons to sculptures and currencies.
The exhibition of "Wind in the Pines: 5000 Years of Korean Art" runs through Sept. 5 at the State Hermitage Museum.