Swedish museum to open Korean wing in Stockholm

Sweden’s Museum of East Asia will open a special exhibition wing for Korean antiquities this weekend, a South Korean government agency in charge of supporting exchanges with foreign countries said Wednesday.

The Korean room, built with financial support from the Korea Foundation affiliated with the Foreign Ministry, is scheduled to open on Saturday, the agency said.

About 160 of some 350 Korean artifacts owned by the museum, chiefly ceramics, will be displayed in the 100 square meters of space on the second floor of the museum in Stockholm, it added.

The Korean room was designed by Hwang Du-jin, a famous architect of hanok, or traditional Korean house.

“I tried to present the modest beauty of South Korea, reviving the spirit of building hanok focused on harmony with the natural environment,” the agency quoted Hwang as saying in a release.

The foundation has provided US$350,000 over the past three years for the construction of the exhibition room.

The planned opening will increase the number of places exhibiting Korean antiquities in foreign museums built with support from the foundation to 23 locations.

Founded in 1926, the Swedish museum has about 110,000 relics from East Asia.

King Carl Gustaf of Sweden, his wife and South Korea’s Culture Minister Choe Kwang-shik will attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony. (Yonhap News)