GYEONGJU, South Korea – Due to its topography, Korea has developed several unique characteristics. The oceanic and continental inclinations combine to form the basis of the people’s identity, which underlies the foundation of the country’s culture and arts. Throughout many millennia, Korea has interacted with the predominant continental cultures of Asia despite its peripheral location on its northeastern side.

However, it is remarkable that the country, while accommodating major religions and traditions of other Asian regions, has developed a truly distinct culture in many aspects which some people call the “centrality of the Korean culture”.

Under this topographical influence, the Korean people came to develop a peace-loving yet dynamic character that has created a contemplative yet vibrant, optimistic yet sentimental culture.

Generally ten symbols have been selected to make Korean culture more known in the world. They are hanbok (Korea’s national costume); kimchi and bulgogi (spicy fermented vegetables and grilled marinated meat); Hangeul (the Korean alphabet); jeryeak (the music of the Jongmyo ancestral rites); talchum (the mask dance drama); taekwondo (a Korean martial art); Korean ginseng; Bulguksa and Seokguram; Mt. Seoraksan; and some internationally known artists of Korean origin.

Koreans take great pride in their cultural heritage for ample reason. In ancient times, the Three Kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla (1st century BC-7th century CE) produced some of the world’s most outstanding Buddhist arts. Later, with the support of China, Silla conquered and subjugated Baekje in 660 and Goguryeo in 668.

Goryeo, the dynasty which was established in 918 and ruled Korea from 936 to 1392, produced inlaid celadon ceramics of unexcelled beauty and the Tripitaka Koreana, the world’s most comprehensive compilation of Buddhist scriptures, and some 80,000 woodblocks to print it. It also developed the world’s first movable metal printing type, some 200 years before it was developed in the West. The Joseon dynasty, which ruled Korea from 1392 to 1910, invented the world’s first rain gauge in 1441 and the ironclad battleship as well as one of the most scientific writing systems in the world.

UNESCO has recognized the unique value and the distinct character of Korean culture by placing a number of Korean treasures on the World Heritage List. The items and sites honored in 1995 are the eighth century Bulguksa Temple and the Seokguram Grotto, both in Gyeongju, the heart bed of ancient Korea. Bulguksa Temple and the Seokguram Grotto were constructed over a 23-year period beginning in 751 during the Silla kingdom. Built on a series of stone terraces, Bulguksa appears to constitute an organic whole with the rocky terrain of the wooded foothills of Tohamsan.

The Tripitaka Koreana woodblocks for printing Buddhist scriptures and Janggyeongpanjeon (the ancient storage halls for these woodblocks) on the grounds of Haeinsa Temple in Gyeongsangnam-do province, and Jongmyo, the royal ancestral shrine of the Joseon dynasty in Seoul, were also registered by UNESCO.

Changdeokgung palace in Seoul and the Hwaseong fortress in Suwon were registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997. In 2000, two additional Korean treasures were added to the list: the dolmen sites of Gochang, Hwasun and Ganghwado; and the Gyeongju historic area, the capital of the ancient Silla Kingdom (57 BC-936 CE), where numerous cultural treasures and historic sites are carefully preserved.

In addition, Hunminjeongeum, the proclamation issued when King Sejong promulgated the Korean alphabet, Hangeul, in 1446, the Joseonwangjosillok (the veritable records of the Joseon dynasty) has also been registered by UNESCO.

Gyeongju National Museum

Gyeongju National Museum exhibits the cultural heritage of the thousand years of Gyeongju, the ancient capital of the Silla kingdom. It is Korea’s leading museum. It represents a major cultural facility for introducing and appreciating the cultures of Silla. The museum contains more than 150,000 artifacts from prehistoric times to the era of the Joseon dynasty of which approximately 3,000 are on permanent exhibit.

The museum operates three exhibition spaces for its permanent collection. They are the Archeology Hall, the Art Hall, and the Anapji Hall. It also operates the Special Exhibition Hall.

The Archeology Hall consists of the Prehistoric and Proto-Three Kingdoms Room, Silla Rooms I and II, and the Gugeun Memorial Room. The collection in this room illustrates the active exchange Silla had with China, Japan, and India while it expanded its sphere of influence and unified the three kingdoms.

In the Prehistoric and Proto-Three Kingdoms Room, artifacts from the Neolithic, Bronze, Early Iron, and Proto-Three Kingdoms eras are exhibited by period, theme, and material.

The items exhibited in Silla I Room were excavated from wooden chamber tombs with stone mounds. It features gold and silver personal ornaments such as gold crowns and gold earrings, as well as receptacles and earthenware. The Silla II Room exhibits weaponry and horse fittings excavated from the wooden chamber tombs in Gyeongju. It also displays clay figurines, clay dolls, and the twelve zodiac signs.

The Art Hall exhibits gilt-bronze statues of Buddha from the Silla and Unified Silla periods as well as Buddhist stone sculpture works.

Cultural relations between West Asia and Korea through the Silk Road

Gyeongju National Museum director Kim Seong-gu told a group of journalists from the Middle East in late November that there were cultural relations between East Asia and West Asia. He said some relics in the museum were carried from West Asia, particularly from Persia (modern-day Iran), through the Silk Road to the Korean peninsula.

The Silk trade, which continued for about 1500 years, created many cultural relations between the countries lying on the route, facilitating the exchange of new ideas and the promulgation of religions.

The Silk Road was the most important pre-modern trade route linking China, Korea, Japan, Central Asia, Persia and western Asia, and Europe. The Persian Empire was considered the main transit route between East Asia to Europe. Although the economic significance of the Silk Road was limited, its cultural impact was great. As merchants, artisans, and missionaries traveled along the trade routes, they brought with them new products, ideas, technologies, and aesthetic principles.

Mr. Kim said even the name "Korea" was first used by Muslim traders from West Asia because they could not pronounce Goryeo, which in turn referred to the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo.

A visitor to the museum can easily notice the traces of Iranian culture in the Gyeongju National Museum.

“The relics that we excavated in the Gyeongju area included a lion which had wings and two birds which had flowers in their mouths, and they came from Iran during the Sassanid era of Persia between the 4th and 7th century,” museum director Kim Seong-gu said through an interpreter.

“At the time, there was a cultural exchange through the Silk Road, so we believe that very many cultural items from Iran and Iraq came to Korea through the Silk Road,” Kim added.

Hangeul, the Korean alphabet

Koreans have developed and use a unique alphabet called Hangeul. It is considered to be one of the most efficient alphabets in the world and has garnered unanimous praise from linguists for its scientific design and excellence.

Hangeul was created under King Sejong during the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910). In 1446, the first Korean alphabet was proclaimed under the name Hunminjeongeum, which literally meant “the correct sounds for the instruction of the people”.

During his reign King Sejong always deplored the fact that the common people, who were ignorant of the complicated Chinese characters that were being used by the educated, were not able to read and write. He understood their frustration in not being able to read or to communicate their thoughts and feelings in written words.

The Korean National University of Art

The traditional music of Korea is based on the voice. That voice is always a distinctive Korean voice, a voice that arises from the character of the Korean people, related to Korea’s climate and natural environment and also to religion and ideology.

Traditional Korean music can be broadly divided into jeongak or court music, which has an intellectual emphasis, and minsogak or folk music, which is full of emotional expression.

The most notable characteristic of Korean music is its leisurely tempo. Most court music moves at a slow pace, sometimes so slow that a single beat can take up to three seconds. As a result, the mood of this music is static, meditative, and reposeful.

The tone of Korean music is generally soft and solemn, especially in court music. The tones result from the fact that most instruments are made of non-metallic materials. String instruments use silk thread rather than wire and almost all of the wind instruments are made of bamboo.

The realization of an art education that reflects the cultural diversity of Korea led to the founding of a national university of arts with the goal of cultivating professional and specialized artists. To meet the demands of society, the institution has instated innovative teaching methods, hired world-class professors, and built exceptional facilities.

In response to the aspirations of the Korean artistic circles and educational sector, the South Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism decided to establish an art school that offered undergraduate and graduate programs to train qualified professionals in music, drama, film, TV and multimedia, visual arts, and Korean traditional arts. This was the inception of the university.

The Korean National University of Art (KNUA) consists of the schools of music, drama, film, TV and multimedia, dance, visual arts, and Korean traditional arts. Each school is an independent organization equivalent to a specialized school in other countries. The school of music was established in 1993.

KNUA plays a major role in the global art scene. It is unrivalled among Asian art universities. The professors identify talents for art among elementary, middle, and high school students. The idea for establishing the university faced some opposition, but it did not last long and the academic center emerged very successful. The university’s school of arts first accepted students in 1993.

The university has exchange programs with 35 universities in 17 countries.

Professor Chung Jae Kook, the dean of the university’s Department of Traditional Music, played a kind of marvelous flute on November 21 as a greeting in honor of the reporters from the Middle East and said that he performed this music in Tehran some thirty years ago.

The university’s Asia Project

The Asia Project is a global initiative undertaken by the university with the aim of educating students and scholars, including professionals, from Asian countries. It disseminates cultural arts to the world as a global educational leader in promoting the development of art elites and scholars with full scholarships and research grants.