• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.16 no.12
• /
• pp.636-643
• /
• 2016

Several Korean cultural property-related foundations have investigated Korean cultural property located abroad with the help of international organizations owning Korean cultural objects and the investigation results serve as the basis of preservation/restoration, exhibition, and educational efforts. Korean cultural objects have been widely used abroad, for instance, for research and exhibition purposes, whereas in Korea, there are still only very few examples of using cultural property based on research results and accessibility to cultural property located abroad is also low. The aim of this study is to explore plans to utilize Korean cultural property located abroad in Korea, and exhibition displays and online museums can be good ways to utilize Korean cultural property located abroad. These will help increase access to Korean cultural property located abroad and find a variety of applications, including exhibitions, education.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.39
• /
• pp.131-163
• /
• 2006

Interest in Korean cultural properties has rising in recent years, not only on the part of existing researcher and scholars but also among the general public. The scope of interest has expand also, no longer being confined to Korea, and has given rise to movements for redemption of cultural properties preserved overseas and plans on how to make use of information about them. Aside from the basic idea that all cultural properties overseas are subjects for redemption, this paper argues that it is time to seek ways to actively make use of information on those cultural properties, and that this must be preceded by dear understanding of the current status through systematic on-site research and investigation of the channels through which they left the country. In addition, it is necessary to look at the issue with a broader perspective. The cultural properties in question must be regarded not as the sole property of Korea, the country that produced them, but as artworks of the world with outstanding universal value, to be protected and utilized by all human beings. From this point of view, this paper organize studies the kinds of Korean cultural properties kept at three major museums in the United Stated, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Roston, and traces the routes and methods by which they were taken out of Korea. Based on the perception of Korean artworks overseas as explained above, the purpose of this paper is to examine materials those cultural properties not only for academic research, but also todistinguish between those properties that should be redeemed and those that should be publicized overseas by clarifying how they were taken overseas, and thus provide basic materials for policy purposes.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.54 no.2
• /
• pp.136-153
• /
• 2021

The restitution of cultural heritage located abroad has been going on for 107 years, starting with the return of the Jigwangguksa Tower to Beopcheonsaji Temple in Wonju after it was taken during the Japanese occupation in 1915. The Overseas Cultural Heritage Foundation, established in 2012, has laid the foundation for retrieval, preservation, restoration, and exchange of cultural heritage through research cooperation and the purchasing of cultural heritage items. The pace of the collection of cultural heritage objects and the locating of others has increased every year since its establishment, and the number of returned, rather than recovered, cultural heritage items has also increased. The present study aimed to complete a value inquiry of the cultural relics of Waryongmae (臥龍梅) and a restitution of cultural heritage as the main focuses. The process of recovering relics from Waryongmae has been recorded in the book The Cultural Property Returned into Our Arms, published by the above-mentioned foundation. This record was revised and supplemented to try and raise its cultural value by adding elaborate storytelling to the process of recovering the Waryongmae that grew in the courtyard of Changdeokgung Palace. The cultural value of Waryongmae is that it is unique. The Waryongmae is the first living cultural heritage, and therefore has cultural value due to its uniqueness. Second, the Waryongmae has unique cultural value due to its restitution and return to Korea twice, once in 1992, and another time in 1999. The first restitution was special in that it was featured by the Japanese media, and the second was special in that it was intensively reported by the Korean media. Third, 42 Waryongmae cultural content types were explored, including nineteen visual contents, eleven interactive contents, and twelve skate contents.

• Conservation Science in Museum
• /
• v.27
• /
• pp.147-164
• /
• 2022

Over 200,000 Korean cultural heritage items are currently located abroad. They have made their way to 22 countries under different circumstances and with unique backgrounds. While some of them continue to contribute to promoting Korean culture around the world, others cannot be exhibited due to damage or poor condition. In view of these circumstances, the Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation (OKCHF) has since 2013 provided museums and art galleries abroad with support for the conservation, restoration, and utilization of the Korean cultural heritage items that they house. As a part of these efforts and on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between the Republic of Korea and the Kingdom of Belgium in 2021, a gilt-bronze case for acupuncture needles dating to the Goryeo period (918-1392) from the collection of the Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH), Belgium was brought to Korea for conservation treatment. The primary purpose of this conservation treatment was to restore the original form of the relic and slow to the degree possible the progress of corrosion. The conservation treatment of the gilt-bronze case followed the fundamental order of conservation treatment: removal of corrosive substances, stabilization, and reinforcement. Since this was the first case of restoring metallic cultural properties under the abovementioned support program by the OKCHF, special methodologies distinct from those available in overseas institutions were required. Diverse scientific methods (e.g., X-ray inspection, CT scanning, 3D microscopy) were applied to identify the metalcraft techniques used in the Goryeo period. The analysis found that several designs, including lotus and scrollwork, were exquisitely engraved on the surface of the case by making dots using a round-edged chisel. A bronze plate engraved with designs was rolled into a cylindrical form. The ends were overlapped by 2 to 3 centimeters and then attached to each other by silver soldering. The overlapping ends were welded flat with nearly no gaps. As the final process in the production, the case was lavishly gilt with gold powder using amalgam gilding. The conservation treatment of the gilt-bronze case for acupunctural needles in the RMAH collection restored the original form of the relic and arrested further corrosion. Above all, it revived the historic and academic value of the overseas Korean cultural heritage through scientific analysis.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.48 no.4
• /
• pp.24-43
• /
• 2015

Since 2011, when Oegyujanggak Uigwe(Records of the State Rites of the Joseon Dynasty) were returned from France, which were looted in 1866 by the French Navy, national attention to our cultural properties abroad was explosively increased and public pressure has been mounting that those cultural properties should be returned in Korea. According to the statistics of "Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation" Korean cultural Properties, which exist in foreign countries, amounts 160,342 in total 20 countries. Among them about half of them are estimated to be illegally exported cultural property, these are to be restituted. However, in reality it is not so easy to restitute illegally exported cultural properties. For this, it needs to be established a long-term and systematic plan for return of cultural properties from other countries. This paper starts from such a critical mind and tries to find legal policy measures for the return of illegally exported cultural properties. To this end, the author first describes motive and aim of this research in chapter I. and overviews basic understanding and current situation of export of cultural property as well as means and methods of return of cultural property in chapter II. and then deals with international and national norms that are involved in the dispute concerned return of cultural properties in chapter III. Based on this research, in chapter IV., which can be considered as a key part of this paper, the author proposed nine legal policy measures for restitution of cultural properties from foreign countries. That is, actual condition survey of cultural properties in foreign countries, unified management and implement of export ID on cultural properties, fund-raising for the diversification of means of return of cultural properties. local utilization of cultural properties, joining in the multilateral conventions and expansion of the bilateral agreements, restitution and cooperation through international organizations, restitution through lawsuit and arbitration, training experts on restitution of cultural property and networking with foreign experts. Finally, the author summarized his opinion in chapter V. which comprehended researching the above.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Information Management Conference
• /
• 2010.08a
• /
• pp.171-176
• /
• 2010

이 연구는 그동안 밝혀지지 않았던 꼴레쥬드 프랑스에 소장된 한국 고문헌을 실사(實事)하여 소장본의 규모와 전래경위, 자료적 특징을 살피는 것을 목적으로 하였다. 특히, 구한말 한국 고문헌의 현황과 프랑스 내 한국 고문헌 소재파악의 중요한 참고문헌인 "한국서지(Bibliographie Coreenne)"를 저술한 모리스 꾸랑(Maurice Courant, 1865-1935) 개인 소장본과 꼴레쥬드 프랑스 소장본과의 관계를 규명하였다. 이를 통하여 국외 한국 문화재의 기초조사에 일조를 하고자 하며 향후 활용방안을 모색해 보고자 한다.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.38 no.3
• /
• pp.147-160
• /
• 2023

In this study, we explore and catalog Korean astronomical heritages that are known to be preserved in foreign countries. We exclude old astronomical books from the catalog because they have been well studied and exist in numbers far too large for the scope of this study. From various documents and online collections, we find a total of 38 Korean astronomical heritages in six countries: 10, 11, and 14 items from the UK, France, and Japan, respectively, and 1 item from Germany, the US, and China each. These include items that are suspected to be of Chinese heritage and items of unconfirmed possession status. We divide the astronomical heritages primarily into two groups: time-keeping instruments (18 items) and astronomical charts (20 items). In this paper, we briefly review them according to country. We believe that this study provides a foundation for further detailed studies on each item, such as the Gujang-Cheonsang-Yeolcha-Bunya-Jido (舊藏天象列次分野之圖) preserved in the Library of Congress, United States.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.56 no.2
• /
• pp.12-26
• /
• 2023

Recently, 『Gyeongja(庚子)/Daetongryeok(大統曆)』(1600), a memorandum record of Yu Seong-ryong during the reign of King Seonjo(宣祖) of the Joseon Dynasty, was returned to Korea from Japan, and about 4,000 letters in cursive characters have been interpreted by Ro Seung-suk. The contents for 203 days written in the margin of 『Gyeongja(庚子)/Daetongryeok(大統曆)』 are mostly new, and are meaningful in understanding Yu's life and social association circumstances. There are daily routines of each day, contemporary figures, diseases and oriental medicine prescriptions. In particular, the combat record of Admiral Yi Sun-shin in 83 letters on the cover is very important to understand the situation in those days. It seems that the reason for writing the combat situations a year and a few months after Admiral Yi died in war was to honor his distinguished military service for a long time by King Seonjo's order according to the public opinion of the royal court. The record can be classified into two categories. First, Admiral Yi sighed when he heard about Yu's dismissal from the office in Gogeumdo, and was always alert with clear water on the boat after the Battle of Waekyo Castle. Second, he was killed by bullets shot by the enemy while directly encouraging battle, not listening to his men who tried to dissuade him from leading the naval battle at Noryang. This only contained contents of devoting his life desperately, which is an important proof of the theory of his death in war. It also contains nine methods for making liquor and another method that wasn't known to the public, and seems to include popular alcohol brewing methods or newly devised ones. In addition, there is a detail that Heo Jun, the author of 『Donguibogam』, introduced medicine to Yu, along with being unable to attend ancestral rites and relieving the poor written in red. There are also stories about Kang Hang(姜沆) returning to Korea after being captured by Japan and Lee Deok-hong(李德弘)'s son, who introduced Gugapseondo(龜甲船圖, the first picture of the Turtle Ship in Korea) to King Seonjo. In the light of the above, 『Gyeongja(庚子)/Daetongryeok(大統曆)』is an important historical record to empirically research not only figures related to Yu but also the circumstances of those days since it contains new facts that are not in the existing literature. In particular, the big accomplishment of this study is to correct the mistakenly known theory of Admiral Yi's suicide and to find out the new fact that Heo Jun provided medical information. In this respect, this book is expected to serve as a testament to the future study of the history and characters related to Yu in the mid-Joseon period.