Cheongju National Museum spotlights on metalic cultural assets

▲ This photo, provided by Cheongju National Museum, shows the permanent exhibition hall 3. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ This photo, provided by Cheongju National Museum, shows the permanent exhibition hall 2. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ This photo, provided by Cheongju National Museum, shows the permanent exhibition hall 3. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Apr. 13 (Yonhap) -- The National Museum of Cheongju which possess various historic records excavated from North Chungcheong province, reorganized the permanent exhibition to focus on metalic cultural assets.

Cheongju National Museum announced on the 13th that they have newly re-modeled their permanent exhibition under a slogan "Your museum with breath and rest."

The exhibition is mainly divided into three parts. Hall 1 and 2 which deal with the prehistoric and the ancient era, are designed in bright tone, and hall 3 in which various metalic relics are displayed uses relatively strong light on relics while lowering the illuminance of light, so that each piece of relics can be stood out better.

The exhibition composition is also centered on metal. Hall 1 introduces how human life has changed before and after metal appears.

Before the bronze age, humans used earthenware and stoneware, made out of soil and stone, respectively. They used tool such as hand-axe, tanged point, comb-pattern pottery. Also, there is a scale marked at regular intervals in a stone excavated from Danyang with a length about 20cm.

On the wall, earthenwares are displayed as if they were floating in the air.

In hall 2, visitors can see a variety of metalic relics such as a mirror with fine linear design, a tiger-shaped belt, a steel knife with bronze handle. A tiger-shaped belt excavated from Cheongju Osong heritage site is especially attractive, with another litter tiger on a tiger's tail.

There is also a resting place with wooden chair where visitors can sit and take time seeing materials.

Hall 3, the highlight of the permanent exhibition, is composed of daily metalic handcrafts such as mirror, locker, and spoon and chosticks. Buddhist Stele of Amitabha with Inscription of 'Gyeyu Year' which is designated as a national treasure, as well as the statue of Buddha and the religious paintings of Buddha are also disclosed to the public.

Two exhibition places are also newly established, including a place for Buddhist cultural assets which chronologically introduces temples in North Chungcheong province, and a place for Sanoesa metalic cultural assets, excavated during the bank revetment process of Cheongju Musimcheon. The first temple to be selected is Guinsa temple in Danyang, a head temple of Cheontae (Tiantai Buddhism).

An official of Cheongju National museum said, "We are planning to reinforce our stature as a professional metal culture museum through the reorganization of permanent exhibition," adding, "We designed the exhibition halls for visitors to see relics while taking rest in a building which an architect Kim Su-geun had built at the east of Woo-am mountain."

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Kim Jimin.)


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