Newly selected national treasures of Korea to be unveiled to public

The National Museum of Korea will hold an exhibition next year featuring national treasures designated in recent years, according to the Cultural Heritage Administration on Tuesday. 

The upcoming exhibition between April and June 2020 will unveil some 100 newly designated national treasures and treasures. The items include those owned by temples, private galleries and individuals.

One highlight is “Annals of the Joseon Dynasty,” a representative written record of the history of the dynasty.

“Annals of the Joseon Dynasty,” National Treasure No. 151, originally earned the designation in 1973. But its status was updated in June, as the administration found an additional 96 books omitted in the past.

The exhibition will also include paintings that are now valuable records of the past, including National Treasure No. 325, “Album of Paintings of the Gathering of Elders,” a large painting that depicts a court event.

There will also be genre paintings by the two most famous Joseon-era artists: Shin Yun-bok’s “Portrait of a Beauty” and Kim Hong-do’s “Samgongbulhwando.”

Shin’s “Portrait of a Beauty,” owned by the Gansong Art Museum, was designated Treasure No. 1973 in 2018. Kim’s “Samgongbulhwando,” the Samsung Foundation of Culture’s landscape painting on an eight-section folding screen, was designated Treasure No. 2000 in 2018.

Some paintings and pagodas that are difficult to move from local temples will be shown on screens.

The exhibition is a collaboration between the Cultural Heritage Administration and the National Museum. In 2017, the two government institutions co-organized an exhibition introducing cultural heritage properties newly designated as national treasures from 2014-16.

Meanwhile, the two subsidiary bodies under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism have signed a memorandum of understanding, pledging to continue ramping up efforts to hold new exhibitions on cultural heritage and to invest resources in research.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)