Five Joseon royal books unveiled

National Museum to hold special exhibition of royal texts from July 19 to Sept. 18

By Chung Ah-young

The National Museum of Korea Monday unveiled several books of the “Oegyujanggak” archives of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) that were looted during the 1866 French incursion.

A total of 297 volumes of “uigwe” (royal protocols) from the Oegyujanggak archives were flown back home from France in four separate shipments from April 14 to May 27. Since then, the collection has been safely kept in a storage room of the museum.

The museum revealed five books and the original silk covers of the books, prior to the opening of a special exhibition of the royal texts from July 19 to Sept. 18.

The five books, “Pungjeongdogam Uigwe” (1630), “Jangryeolwanghusungdogam Uigwe” (1686), “Jangryeolwanghugukjangdogam Uigwe” (1688), “Uisosesonyejangdogam Uigwe” (1752) and “Seogweolyeonggeondogam Uigwe” (1831), hold the essence of the royal protocols documenting various rituals. Three of them are the only originals that don’t exist in Korea.

“I hope the disclosure of the royal texts will raise the importance of the uigwe,” Kim Young-na, director of the museum, said. She also said that she felt sorry about the late unveiling of the royal documents to the public.

Listed in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2007, Joseon uigwe are a model of rites and rituals unique to Korea recorded during the kingdom. The historical documents record and prescribe through prose and illustration the major ceremonies and rites of the royal family.

The museum said that the most distinctive characteristic of the uigwe from Oegyujanggak is that they were made for the kings’ inspections. Usually, five to nine copies were produced for the viewing by kings and the references for other institutions. The royal protocols for the kings and other institutions have almost the same contents.

However, the kings’ copies differ greatly in the quality of the paper, cover and binding that enabled the documents to endure, and in the refined descriptions recorded by top court artisans.

For the copies for the kings, “chojuji,” the highest quality paper available then, was used to publish the protocols. The chojuji paper was bordered with red lines, bound with a silk cover and used elaborate binding techniques, including five bored holes with brass reinforcements. These reinforcements were well preserved in particular, the museum officials said.

The museum also presented the original silver covers of the books that represent the change of the binding techniques and the quality of silks varying in texture, pattern and weaving methods through the 17th to 19th centuries.

The royal documents were brought home after President Lee Myung-bak and his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, agreed during the G20 Seoul Summit last November to transfer the books on a five-year renewable lease.

The Oegyujanggak books, including the protocols, were taken by French troops in 1866 when they invaded Ganghwa Island off the west coast, in retaliation for Korea’s persecution of French Catholic missionaries.

“Gyujanggak” was established by King Jeongjo at Changdeok Palace in 1776 as a royal library and office for servants who worked as special consultants for the king. In 1782, Oegyujanggak, which means outer Gyujanggak, was founded on Ganghwa Island as a branch of Gyujanggak to serve as an additional royal depository.

The royal texts had been stored at the National Library of France and remained unnoticed until Park Byeong-seon, a Paris-based Korean scholar, discovered in 1975 that they were incorrectly classified as Chinese documents.

One of the books was returned to Korea on a permanent lease basis in 1993 by then French President Francois Mitterrand.

The museum will hold an exhibition to display the royal texts from July 19 to Sept. 18.