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Gyeonggi-do

Presenting intangible cultural heritage in Bucheon

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by Philip Gowman on 7 June, 2010

in Gyeonggi-do,History & heritage,Interviews and features,Travel diaries

Monday 3 May 2010. Bucheon, a city of around 850,000 people in Gyeonggi-do just 40 minutes’ drive West from Seoul, is home of the Bucheon World Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo (BICHE), an annual event which showcases some of Korea’s finest performance arts and crafts alongside those of a dozen or so invited countries. The first [...]

Tagged as: BICHE, Korea Trip 2010, UNESCO

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2010 Travel Diary #4: The Yongin Folk Village

by Philip Gowman 27 May 2010
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Saturday 1 May 2010. Today is a tourism day. We head out to Yongin, just outside the famous city of Suwon where the UNESCO-registered Hwaseong Fortress is situated. Yongin contains a folk village which opened in late 1974, at the height of the Saemaeul movement when modernisation in the countryside was bringing to an end [...]

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Visit Korea, experience the Cold War

by Philip Gowman 30 August 2009
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Coming to the Travel Channel this autumn is a new travel documentary on Korea. At the Korea Tourism evening at the KCC last week we were given a preview. It was refreshing: a Korean tourism documentary, but from a Westerner’s perspective. Yes, we were told that the KTO assisted in the film’s production, but the [...]

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The Shining Fortress part 2: its remarkable story.

by Matthew Jackson 7 August 2009
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by Matthew Jackson The story which surrounds the building of the Hwaseong fortress is an extraordinary one. The fortress was originally built as part of the new Suwon city, a project initiated by King Chongjo. King Chongjo (or King Jeongjo, depending on your preferred romanization) had been greatly devoted to his father, Sado Seja, who [...]

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The Shining Fortress part 1: its construction

by Matthew Jackson 28 July 2009
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by Matthew Jackson The official report by the advisors to UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee concluded that the Suwon Hwaseong Fortress “represents the pinnacle of 18th century military architecture, incorporating the best of that from Europe and from the Far East. As such it has a unique historical importance”. What makes Hwaseong special? Following the editor’s [...]

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The LKL Korea Trip 2009 pt 3: 20th century art and history

by Philip Gowman 24 July 2009
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Friday 17 July Today I elect to revisit the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Gwacheon (국립 현대 미술관). Very easy to get to: Seoul Grand Park subway stop on Line 4. Get out at exit 4 and get the free shuttle bus which leaves every 20 minutes. There’s a great Manhwa exhibition on at [...]

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The LKL Korea Trip 2009 pt 2: Suwon

by Philip Gowman 23 July 2009
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Thursday 16 July Today the plan is to get a few UNESCO world heritage points: the Hwaseong Fortress at Suwon, followed maybe by the nearby folk village. From my base in Insadong, a one-hour tube journey direct from Jonggak station on Line 1 takes me to Suwon, armed with my guide books. A moment of [...]

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