Former Cultural Heritage Administration Chief Yu Hong-jun Attends 15th Anniversary of National Palace Museum Opening
"Established After Seeing Royal Cultural Assets Neglected in Storage"
"Efforts in Artifact Restoration and Preservation Have Made Remarkable Changes"
“Someday, when the president moves the official residence, the Blue House will be vacant...” Yu Hong-jun, former Commissioner of the Cultural Heritage Administration and author of the travelogue My Cultural Heritage Exploration, hoped for an annex to be established at the National Palace Museum of Korea. He said there should be an opportunity to elevate its dignity. “A museum dealing with royal art should be built more splendidly.”
Former Commissioner Yu attended the 15th anniversary event of the National Palace Museum of Korea on the 13th. He was the key figure who laid the foundation. Appointed as the Commissioner of the Cultural Heritage Administration in September 2004, he launched the preparatory committee for the National Palace Museum of Korea just two months later. After gathering opinions from various sectors and promoting its establishment, the goal was achieved on August 15 of the following year.
Yu recalled, “When I took office as Commissioner, I was determined to build both the Cultural Heritage General Hospital and the National Palace Museum of Korea,” adding, “With the help of Kim Byung-il, Minister of the Planning and Budget Commission (now Ministry of Economy and Finance), we were able to secure 14.5 billion won for the museum’s construction.”
The reason he was so dedicated to the National Palace Museum of Korea was that major royal cultural assets were being managed almost as if left in storage. Yu said, “I was saddened when I saw how they were stored in a corner of Deoksugung Seokjojeon. It was just like a well-organized warehouse.” He added, “There was no respect whatsoever for the artifacts,” and “As a manager, I could not leave it as it was.”
The National Palace Museum of Korea, established in this way, has developed remarkably over the past 15 years. It holds about 70,000 royal Joseon Dynasty cultural assets and court relics. Representative cultural properties include the Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunya Jido engraving (National Treasure No. 228), the portrait of King Yeongjo (Treasure No. 932), Sunjong’s royal palanquin (Registered Cultural Heritage No. 318), and the Joseon royal seals and royal documents (UNESCO Memory of the World).
Special exhibitions have been consistently organized. Last year featured “The Crown Prince Who Dreamed of Being a Literary Monarch, Hyomyeong,” and this year “New Royal Ceramics: Western-style Ceramics Used by the Joseon Royal Family.” The museum also exchanged exhibitions with overseas royal museums, hosting “Morning of the Qing Imperial Family, Shenyang Palace” last year. Since 2009, it has established itself as a major museum attracting over one million visitors annually.
Former Commissioner Yu said, “Considerable efforts must have been made in artifact restoration and preservation,” and added, “It feels like the ideas I conceived while studying art history in the past have been realized through the National Palace Museum of Korea.”
The next goal is to create exhibition spaces that realize a happy life. Kim Dong-young, Director of the National Palace Museum of Korea, introduced four strategies to achieve this: utilizing the Digital New Deal, creating a safe and comfortable environment, realizing social value, and sharing research results and professional capabilities. The museum plans to produce online content and establish a second storage facility, among other multifaceted efforts.
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