뉴스레터

On November 29, 2010, a meaningful exhibit entitled "Eternal Life: Exhibit of Tomb Murals of the Ancient Korean Kingdom of Goguryeo" was held in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city. Situated on the southern end of the Bosphorus Strait, which cuts between the Asian and European continents, Istanbul is a historic city that went by the name Byzantium as a part of Ancient Greece and then by the name Constantinople during the time of the Byzantine Empire. There is a reason why the Northeast Asian History Foundation decided to hold an exhibit of Goguryeo tomb murals in such a historic city straddling the Asian and European continents.

The Foundation has made steadfast efforts to inform the world about Goguryeo culture through diverse overseas exhibits. We launched the "Mongol-Turk Belt Exhibit" in 2009 to showcase Goguryeo history in the nations that have had historical presences in Northeast Asia and Central Asia. It was planned as a traveling exhibit. The selected destinations were Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iran, and Turkey. Last year, the exhibit was held at the National Museum of Mongolia, at the Presidential Center of Culture in Kazakhstan, and in Bishkek, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan. While the exhibit in Uzbekistan scheduled for 2010 was canceled due to various extenuating circumstances, the exhibit in Turkey could be held as planned thanks to the efforts of the Foundation as well as the Korean Association in Turkey.

Turkey is called a brother nation in Korea. The Turkish people of today are the descendents of the Göktürk, who are more familiarly known in Korea as the "Dolgweol", a Korean pronunciation of the Chinese characters for Turk. Upon defeating the nomadic empire of Rouran [柔然] around the mid-6th century BCE, the Göktürk emerged as a dominant power in Central Asia. Thereupon, the Göktürk came into conflict with Goguryeo. In the 7th century, however, the Göktürk and Goguryeo forged friendly ties in order to work together to fend off the threat posed by the Chinese dynasties of Sui and Tang. Thereafter, Göktürk Empire was divided into eastern and western halves. The Seljuq Turks later migrated westward and founded the Ottoman Empire, the anteceding state to present-day Turkey, in 1299. It was in consideration of this historical background that Istanbul, Turkey was chosen as the final leg of the traveling exhibit of Goguryeo tomb murals, and the local response to the exhibit was more explosive than had been expected.

Explosive response that surpassed expectations

Like the exhibits in 2009, the exhibit in Istanbul also centered on Goguryeo tomb murals. As is well known, Goguryeo tomb murals are art works as well as recorded heritage of the culture, science and technologies, and thoughts and worldview of the people of Goguryeo. They are designated as a UNESCO World Heritage. However, they have suffered gradual damage with the passage of time, and some murals cannot even be made out with the naked eye. The Foundation has been carrying out a project to digitally restore Goguryeo tomb murals. We have completed the digital restoration of the tomb murals of Deokheung-ri and Gangseodaemyo.

At the Istanbul exhibit, we displayed the digitally restored tomb murals of Deokheung-ri and Gangseodaemyo on the first floor. Built in 408 BCE, the tomb in Deokheung-ri is a stone chamber tomb covered by a mound. There is an ink inscription indicating that the owner of the tomb by the name of Jin [鎭] was a high-ranking official of Goguryeo who died at age 77. There are also a variety of murals detailing Jin's life. The murals were painted on top of the walls treated with limestone plaster. The tomb in Deokheung-ri has received a lot of attention as its structure and murals provides a lot of information about the housing, lifestyle, and religion of Goguryeo aristocracy of the early 5th century.

Gangseodaemyo is a mound tomb made of mud and limestone plaster. It has a diameter of 51m and is 9m tall. Each of the four walls of the tomb features one of the Four Guardian Deities—blue dragon, white tiger, red phoenix, and black tortoise. On the ceiling is a golden dragon and lotus flowers. Gangseodaemyo provides a fine example of a complete painting of the Four Guardian Deities because of the strong and dynamic rendering of the images comprising the murals. The mural of the black tortoise, which features a snake and a tortoise intertwined together into a single entity, is considered a masterpiece of 6-7th century East Asian painting.

Author discussing the mural
of the black tortoise found in
Gangseodaemyo

We also set up five image banners on the wall facing the entrance on the 1st floor to make the exhibition hall appear larger. The powerful and dignified colors of the Goguryeo tomb murals were attention-grabbers. By displaying the reproductions of the clothing worn by the dancers in the mural in Muyongchong tomb—owned by the Korea University Museum, we added dimensionality and variation to an exhibit dominated by panel displays. We also played a video on Goguryeo tomb murals near the exit on the 1st floor in order to provide more detailed information to visitors.

On the 2nd floor of the exhibition hall, we displayed photos of actual tomb murals that demonstrate the lifestyle and worldview of the people of Goguryeo. The exhibit was thus organized to get the visitors, who would have experienced the digitally restored murals on the 1st floor, to see photos of the actual murals and travel back in time to the distant past. Many visitors were especially taken with the scene of the tomb's owners—a husband and wife—on an outing from the mural in a tomb in Susan-ri as well as the mural featuring constellations from Tomb No. 2 in Deokhwa-ri. The vivid brushstrokes and colors left behind by Goguryeo painters from over 1,500 years ago were lauded for their mysterious beauty.

Room for improvement

While the opening ceremony on November 29 had been scheduled for 6:00 p.m., many visitors started coming in the morning. We were especially moved by the Turkish veterans of the Korean War who stayed throughout the opening ceremony, expressing great interest and showing us genuine consideration. A few professors from Marmara University visited the exhibit and provided us with expert feedback. One college student, a history major, asked me many questions throughout the opening ceremony. All in the all, the local response was even better than we had anticipated.

Be that as it may, I feel that there was still room for improvement. Along with the challenging conditions in Istanbul, the greatest difficulty we faced in organizing the exhibit was that we did not have enough time to make thorough preparations. While we attempted various methods, the exhibit seemed dull because it was dominated by photographs. I hope that in the future, we will have the time and budget to organize a more multidimensional exhibit that also includes relevant artifacts.