A Museum Guide Provided with
Vivid Pictures and Enchanting Stories!

The National Museum of Korea represents Korea and is the sixth largest museum in the world. This book selects and introduces two hundred and fifty most important relics and artifacts. Each artifact is provided with vivid and clear pictures and presented with brief and essential explanations of their background and other stories that surround them.
People sometimes find museums boring and not exciting. If they take the time to look at each artifact, they will find that everything about the artifact including its shape and the smallest pattern means something. All the relics and artifacts exhibited at the museum contain both important meanings and interesting stories.

History
Exhibition galleries are arranged by time period-Paleolithic, Neolithic, Bronze and Early Iron Ages, Goguryeo, Baekje, Gaya, Silla, Unified Silla, Goryeo, and Joseon-so that we can look over Korea's history at a glance. Now, shall we take a look at the artifacts that represent each period and examine how they changed with the different lifestyles of each period and kingdom?

Culture
In magnificent examples of Korean traditional culture we can see at a glance the thoughts and daily lives of people at the time according to theme: Hangeul, Korea's representative documentary heritage, a printing culture that surpassed all other countries in the world, documents that tell us how people lived at the time, and scientific maps that show mountains and waterways. Find out how much of the Korean ancestors' way of thinking can still be found in Koreans' lives today.

Art and Crafts
Over ten thousand finest works of art will guide you to the beauty of Korean traditional art: calligraphy that turns characters into an art form, paintings that include landscape paintings, portraits, and genre paintings, Buddhist paintings and sculptures from the Three Kingdoms to the Joseon Dynasty, and metal crafts that show the delicate and refined nature of the Korean ancestors. The outdoor exhibition area of the museum features stone art, such as pagodas and statues.

Asian Art
Although the countries of Asia are located close to one another, they did not know each other very well. As exchanges between various cultures and civilizations took place, these countries influenced and were influenced by one another. With Asian arts displayed at the National Museum of Korea, you will find remains from Central Asia, China, and Japan. It would be a good opportunity to explore the differences and similarities among the countries in Asia.