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no. 1 > 2004
ICOM NEWS
ICOM General Conference >
ICOM 2004 Seoul: Museums of Seoul
he museums of South Korea cover
numerous disciplines. They display a
fascinating range of artefacts, drawn from
the ancient roots of Korean culture as well as
from the world of modern Korea, with its
significant contemporary art production and
technological sophistication. We feature
below some of the major museums of Seoul
which you can discover for yourself at the
ICOM General Conference in October
T
The New National Museum of Korea
>
The project to build a new National Museum of Korea in Seoul was
launched in 1993. The National Museum had been housed in the premises of
the former Japanese Governor-General, until the building was demolished in
1996. The new museum will stand in the Yongsan Park.
>
The architecture of the new National Museum of Korea in Seoul is
based on an award-winning design selected in an international contest.
Construction began in 1997, and the new Museum will be an impressive sixstorey building with a total floor space of over 130,000 m2, standing in
grounds of over 300,000 m2.
>
When completed, the New Museum will be equipped to exhibit and
conserve the magnificent cultural heritage of 5,000 years of the Korean
people in the South and North of Korea, as well as of neighbouring countries.
The Museum will carry out research into
traditional Korean culture and arts, provide the general public with a venue for
education in these, and will implement
international cultural exchange programmes in order to display Korean art
abroad, as well as introducing foreign
cultures and arts to the Korean people.
For further information, please visit the
site: http://www.museum.go.kr
The National Museum of Korea
(to be moved to the new site in Yongsan)
© National Museum of Korea
National Folk Museum of Korea
>
The National Folk Museum of Korea, located in the
Gyeongbokgung Palace, features aspects of the traditional culture of
ordinary people and of the aristocracy, focusing particularly on the
Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). In addition to its role of researching, collecting and preserving folk
artefacts, it is also a forum
for social education on folk
culture through exhibitions
and classes, which are
designed to provide a better understanding of traditional Korean culture.
>
The museum has
adopted traditional Korean
architectural styles, and
The National Folk Museum of Korea
the different buildings are
© National Folk Museum of Korea
modelled on different
Korean Temple complexes.
Particularly noteworthy is
the middle façade of the main building, which is in the form of the beautiful “Cloud Bridge Stairway” leading up to the entrance of Bulguksa
Temple in Gyeongju, which has a lower flight, the Bridge of White
Clouds, and an upper flight, the Bridge of Azure Clouds.
>
Set up and run by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the
Museum has a collection of over 70,000 artefacts. The National Folk
Museum of Korea promises to continue developing as a leading institution dedicated to traditional Korean folk culture.
For further information, please visit the site: http://www.nfm.go.kr
Seoul Museum of History
>
The Seoul Museum of History researches into the history and
culture of Seoul and presents exhibits in their historical and cultural
context. The Museum aims to provide its visitors, both foreign and local,
with an opportunity to see and experience the culture of the nation’s
capital. It is a City Museum which recounts the history of Seoul, and it
also serves as a vibrant cultural centre.
>
Its other missions include preserving the traditional culture and
history of Seoul, in order to strengthen its cultural character and promote pride in the nation’s capital. The museum collects and preserves
cultural expressions threatened with extinction, to enable the people of
Seoul and others to become aware of and examine their cultural past and
learn more about Seoul’s culture and history.
For further information, please visit the site: http://www.museum.seoul.kr
National Museum Of Contemporary
Art, Korea
> The National Museum of Contemporary Art’s mission is to help valorise
contemporary Korean and international
art through its work of conservation and
the organisation of exhibitions. The
Museum was inaugurated in 1969, in the
grounds of Gyeongbokgung Palace, in
Seoul, but was moved to larger premises
– the Deoksugung Palace, also in Seoul –
as the public’s awareness and desire for
art and culture grew.
ICOM NEWS
no. 1 > 2004
< ICOM General Conference
>
In 1980, the Museum was again faced with the need to extend its
exhibition space. The premises of the royal palace could no longer fulfil the expanding role of a national museum, which is not only to organise art exhibitions and present its permanent collections, but also to
educate a growing and increasingly demanding public about the pleasures of culture. The problem was resolved with the construction of a
new museum in Gwacheon City, on the outskirts of Seoul.
>
In 1986, less than two years after the project had been launched,
a new museum and sculpture garden was inaugurated. Subsequently, in
1998, the Deoksugung Museum was incorporated into the National
Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea, and adopted its name. The
Museum could now open itself without restriction to the international
contemporary art scene and to contemporary Korean culture. The
Museum was constructed such that the traditional and contemporary
architecture of its buildings should harmonise with the beauty of the
surrounding landscaped grounds. Modelled on the traditional Korean
fortress and beacon station, it is designed in two parts, a fortress-like
sculpture hall and a semi-oval hall for paintings, with the beacon central
ramp connecting the two halls. A majority of local materials were used
for the exterior of the building.
>
Benefiting from its location
in the centre of Seoul, its permanent collections and its innovative
exhibitions that can be either on an
intimate or a grand scale, the
National Museum Of Contemporary Art has already become one of the
most popular cultural institutions in Korea.
For further information, please visit the site: http://www.moca.go.kr
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