동북아역사재단 2014년 07월호 뉴스레터
스토리
The Exterior of the Deokheung-ri Mural Tomb
Deokheung-ri Mural Tomb(the entire mural on the south wall
of the front room)
The Deokheung-ri Mural Tomb (408 A.D.) is located in Deokheung-ri, Gangseo District, Nampo City, South Pyeongan Province, North Korea. According to the epigraph, the person buried in the tomb is Jin (鎭), a former governor of Yuju. This tomb features colorful murals on its walls and ceiling, depicting strange and peculiar animals, and fairies and angels in heaven against the night sky with myriads of stars and the Milky Way. In particular, the mural on the south wall of the front room features the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, who looks sad watching the back of her lover leaving across the Milky Way. The tale of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl originated from a celestial event in which the Vega gets closer to the Altair as it ascends to the zenith around the seventh day of the seventh lunar month each year. This is a tale found in similar versions in ancient Korea, China, and Japan, but the Deokheung-ri Mural Tomb is the first to illustrate it in such a beautiful painting.
