Poetry in Clay, the exhibition of Buncheong Ceramics from the Leeum Museum currently at the Metropolitan Museum is seriously worth a visit, with some beautiful pots. Interesting that they also juxtapose a couple of 20th century paintings. Kim Whanki’s dot paintings really do look like the dot decoration on one of the pots # Curator … [Read More]
Heritage Category: Cultural Tourism (page 5)
New Korean heritage listings at UNESCO
The Archives of the Gwangju uprising, plus the Ilseongnok (account of Joseon kings’ daily lives) have just been listed in UNESCO Memory of the World http://bit.ly/lJNKdY # The Ilseongnok is designated as National Treasure No.153 [Read More]
2011 Travel Diary day 4: the private side of Sancheong
Busan, Tuesday 3 May 2011. My head is still feeling slightly foggy from Sunday night, and my appetite has not yet returned, but at least I’m feeling well enough to tackle the Busan subway system for the first time. It’s a breeze, and soon I’m on my way to the Nopodong area of North Busan, … [Read More]
2011 Travel Diary day 2: the Changdeokgung and Biwon
Seoul, Sunday 1 May 2011. In previous years I had been foiled in my attempts to get to see the famous Secret Garden behind the UNESCO-listed Changdeok Palace. Either there were building works going on, or access was only via guided tour and I had missed my slot, or some other obstacle was put in … [Read More]
Poetry in Clay: Korean Buncheong Ceramics from the Leeum Collection on view at Metropolitan Museum
News of an important temporary exhibition at the Met in New York. For the duration of the exhibition, the museum’s permanent display of Korean artefacts will be in storage. Poetry in Clay: Korean Buncheong Ceramics from Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art April 7 – August 14, 2011 A special loan exhibition focusing on the dynamic … [Read More]
Tripitaka Koreana is a copy, but an improvement on the original
Interesting article on the Tripitaka Koreana – an early example of Korean improvement on foreign intellectual property. http://bit.ly/fjShBC # [Read More]
A last look back at 2010
We’ve digested the albums, films, sporting events and books of the year, and reviewed some of the memorable stories of 2010 in our Quiz of the Year. Here are some of the other things we noted in 2010 which didn’t quite make it into any of those articles. 2010: a year of anniversaries It was … [Read More]
Three Korean traditions named world treasures
Three Korean traditions named world treasures: gagok (lyrical songs), daemokjang (wooden architectural craftsmanship) and maesanyang (falcon hunting). That UNESCO list keeps getting longer! http://bit.ly/9Ia99y # Daemokjang is Important Intangible Cultural Heritage No.74; Gagok is Important Intangible Cultural Heritage No.30 [Read More]
Five Royal Tombs. Destination: Seooreung (Goyang)
A few days ago LKL wrote about a Silla dynasty royal tomb in Sancheong County: the Last King of Kaya. Power K-blogger Chris Backe reports on a visit to five Joseon dynasty royal tombs in Goyang Just across the Seoul border rest some once-royal dead people. UNESCO certified as being significant to world culture, these … [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #37: The Last King of Gaya
Korea is rightly proud of its heritage, and submits the most select elements of its long history to UNESCO for inscribing in the list of important world heritage items. One of the most recent items to have been so listed is the Joseon Dynasty Royal Tombs. They are beautifully peaceful places to visit. Perfectly manicured … [Read More]
Hahoe and Yangdong listed at UNESCO
Congratulations to historic villages Hahoe and Yangdong, “two of the most representative historic clan villages in the Republic of Korea,” and Korea’s latest inclusion in the UNESCO world heritage list, on 31 July. http://bit.ly/cqjKEl # The BBC has some nice photos of both villages, plus other UNESCO sites listed along with them including Reunion Island … [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #30: Daewonsa – early morning prayers and sutra painting
Friday 7 May. I wake up at 3 o’clock. My body seems to be ready for early morning prayers even though I hadn’t signed up for them. I wanted to hear those moktaks and chants again, so I crawl into my clothes and stumble out to the main temple courtyard to wait for the prayers … [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #25: Heo Jun and Sancheong’s herbal heritage
Thursday 6 May 2010. The mayor hurries off for an appointment: not only is the Sancheong Medicinal Herb Festival in full swing, but elections are approaching in a month’s time. In fact I’m amazed he has found time to meet with this foreign blogger at all. He leaves the rest of us to finish the … [Read More]
Presenting intangible cultural heritage in Bucheon
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 … [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #8: The Jongmyo Rituals Part 2
Sunday 2 May 2010. As we file out from the shrine after the first ceremony of the day, we mingle with the butlers who are off to have a quick breather and cigarette before the next ceremony. Already the queues are forming to get into the main shrine for the headline event at 1pm. No … [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #7: The Jongmyo Rituals, part 1
Sunday 2 May 2010. I found it really quite hard to find accessible information online in respect of the Jongmyo rituals. Often, on the UNESCO site, there is documentation which sets out why the submitting country thinks that this particular intangible cultural property is worthy of inscription on the international list. But no such information … [Read More]