National Museum of Korea's Goguryeo room now bigger and better

Korea Herald

16-02-2025

Museum unveils richer Goguryeo offering following two-year renovation of Prehistory and Ancient History Hall
The National Museum of Korea has reopened its larger space dedicated to the ancient Korean kingdom of Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD), as the state-run institution looks to capture Korean history in seamless continuity.
'Artifacts we recovered from China and from around the Han River were central to the latest revamp,' said Yoon Sang-deok, head of archaeology and history, who led the two-year renovation of the Prehistory and Ancient History Hall on the first floor of the museum.
'There isn't a more dedicated Goguryeo space than ours in the country,' Yoon said Friday ahead of opening the hall to the public the next day.
The Goguryeo room, now almost twice its previous size, had long disappointed Korean historians and their community because it lacked a diversity of artifacts and a matching narrative that explains Korean heritage from ancient to modern times.
Those voices stepped up calls for expanding the museum space dedicated to Goguryeo as China increasingly claims Goguryeo as its own.
Over 1,800 objects are now on view in the Goguryeo room, almost twice the previous volume, according to Ryu Jeong-han, the curator involved in the overhaul.
'What we've tried to emphasize through the expansion are tomb mural replicas,' Ryu said of the added spaces for some 130 murals. The murals, which offer a glimpse into what Goguryeo people thought about the afterlife, are mostly from between the third and the seventh centuries, according to Ryu.
An armor plate excavated near the Imjin River, which starts in North Korea before crossing the Demilitarized Zone and joining the Han River downstream, is on exhibit for the first time since its discovery in 2011, said Kim Tae-yeong, an associate curator who took part in the renovation.
The artifact is clear evidence of how Goguryeo was a frequent warring kingdom, Kim said.
Kim Jae-hong, the NMK director general, said the latest addition of artifacts is owed to the museum's research on Goguryeo over the last 25 years.
'We've put together a pool of artifacts found in eastern China, North Korea and South Korea,' Kim said.
The latest media technologies render exhibitions lively and more easily accessible as well.
The space dedicated to the Paleolithic Age to the Bronze Age is interspersed with multimedia displays showing how earthenware was made across the Korean Peninsula. For example, one video explains how stones were shaped to be used as tools.
'We've tried to rearrange spaces so that visitors can relate to what they observe,' Director General Kim noted. 'We had long lacked a historical continuity that connects the whole history. We now have one.'