The historical tome History of the Three Kingdoms” (1145), or the “Samguksagi” (삼국사기, 三國史記), states that the Baekje Kingdom (18 B.C.-A.D. 660) “cultivated simple, but not shabby, and flamboyant, but not extravagant, traditions and arts.”

A special exhibition currently underway in Seoul looks back on the glorious Baekje arts that flourished in the later years of the kingdom’s existence, when it was the centerpiece of cultural exchanges across East Asia.

The Baekje Historic Areas of World Heritage exhibition kicked off on Nov. 29 at the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan-gu District, Seoul, with a total of 1,720 relics from the ancient kingdom on display. The historical treasures put under the spotlight here are among those excavated from the kingdom’s capital cities, temples and royal tombs during the Ungjin Period (475 A.D.-538 A.D.), when the capital was in what is now Gongju, Chungcheongnam-do Province, Ungjin (웅진), and during the Sabi Period (538 A.D.-660 A.D.), when the capital was what is now Buyeo in the province of Sabi (사비).

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A gold container (right) and a larger gilt-bronze bottle (center), both part of a sarira reliquary discovered in a stone pagoda at the Mireuksa Temple in Iksan, Jeollabuk-do Province, are among the exhibits on display at the Baekje Historic Areas of World Heritage exhibition at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul. The bottles held thousands of glass beads when they were discovered. The beads are believed to have been placed there to conserve the sarira casket and the sarira itself. A small, thin gold plate, pictured to the very left, was also found at the temple, which is called a guemjaesari bongyounggi (금제사리 봉영기). The gold plate has 193-letter phrases which indicate that the temple was built in 639 A.D. by the daughter of the then Baekje queen and prayed for peace and good health for the king and the royal court as a whole.

The exhibit consists of three sections: capital cities, temples and royal tombs. The “Capital Cities” section focuses on the building structures and living conditions by looking at a series of remains discovered in and around ramparts, workshops, toilets and kitchens.

The 40-meter conduit pipe (도수관, 導水管) found in Gwanbuk-ri, Buyeo, is a testament to what a well-planned city the ancient Baekje city was. The whole neighborhood of Gwanbuk-ri is believed to be what used to be a royal palace during the Sabi Period. The pipe was made with a series of roof tiles, known as giwa (기와), and the Baekje people collected water running from the mountains through it.

There were other traditions that symbolized the Baekje cites. As the kingdom accepted Buddhism, the significance of lotus flowers, one of the symbols of Buddhism, grew. In this sense, lotus flower-patterned decorative roof tiles (연꽃무늬 와당, 瓦當) started to be placed on the edges of the roofs of lofty buildings like royal palaces. The exhibition displays about 30 pieces of such decorative roof tiles, including lotus flower-patterned sumaksae (연꽃무늬 수막새) that prevailed during the Ungjin Period.

Pieces of a lacquered armor found at the Gongsanseong Fortress in Gongju in 2011 have been made public for the first time, too. This armor had the five Chinese characters 貞觀十九年 inscribed on it. The 貞觀 in the writing refers to the Chinese era name for the reign of Emperor Taizong (r. 626-649) of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The 19th year of the reign of Emperor Taizong indicates the year 645 A.D., a mere 15 years before the Baekje Kingdom fell. This was the time when the final Baekje ruler, King Uija (r. 641-660), interacted with the Tang Dynasty by sending envoys back and forth.

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A 40-meter conduit pipe from Baekje times was made of a series of tiles and was used to collect water coming down from the mountains.

 

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Pieces of a lacquered armor found at the Gongsanseong Fortress in Gongju in 2011 have a red inscription that says ‘정관 십구년’ (貞觀 十九年). The Chinese characters refer to the 19th year of the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, which indicates the year 645 A.D., a mere 15 years before the fall of the Baekje Kingdom. The armor was manufactured and used in that year.

The Baekje Kingdom is often referred to as the “Flower of Buddhism.” In the “Temples” section of the museum exhibition, a set of exhibits spotlight the ways in which Buddhism thrived during Baekje times. On display here there are sarira reliquaries alongside a variety of offerings from inside of them. They were discovered at the Wangheungsa Temple in Buyeo, Chungcheongnam-do Province, and at the Mireuksa Temple and at Wanggung-ri, both in Iksan, Jeollabuk-do Province.

A sarira reliquary discovered in a stone pagoda at Mireuksa Temple, in particular, stands out among the others. The casket is a triple-covered container with the innermost glass bottle enshrining the sarira. The glass container was placed inside a gold container, which was, then again, placed inside a bigger gilt-bronze bottle. By the time of excavation, this reliquary held golden accessories, like gold beads, and lots of glass beads in various colors, from blue and green to purple, as well as other things, such as what is assumed to have been incense.

“The way in which sarira were enshrined with lots of beads together, as in the Mireuksa casket, is one of the kingdom’s unique Buddhist traditions, quite different from China’s. This tradition inspired Japan’s Buddhist traditions, too, from the early 600s and 700s,” said Kim Jin-kyung, curator for the exhibition.

Another eye-catcher here is a restored set of two 1,400-year-old decorative roof tiles, or chimi (치미, 鴟尾), from Wangheungsa Temple. The ancient tiles were retrieved from the seungbang (승방, 僧坊) building at the temple, the top part discovered at the building’s southern end and the other bottom part at the northern end. The seungbang was the living quarters of the Buddhist monks at the temple. You can find the reassembled top and bottom halves at this exhibition.

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A set of 1,400-year-old Baekje decorative roof tiles, or chimi, discovered at Wangheungsa Temple in Buyeo, Chungcheongnam-do Province, are among the exhibits on display at the Baekje Historic Areas of World Heritage exhibition.

 

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Sarira reliquaries, excavated at Wangheungsa Temple in Buyeo, Chungcheongnam-do Province, are assumed to have been manufactured in 577 A.D. during Baekje times.

“We host this Baekje exhibition to mark the first anniversary of the registration of the Baekje Historic Areas as an official UNESCO World Heritage site, which happened in July last year,” said Director General Yi Young-hoon of the National Museum of Korea. “We wanted to show how the ancient kingdom carried out exchanges with its neighbors across East Asia and also how it cultivated its own distinctive traditions and arts. The exhibit will hopefully help visitors get a better understanding of the kingdom itself and of the Baekje Historic Areas, as well.”

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Visitors appreciate relics from the Baekje Kingdom on display at the Baekje Historic Areas of World Heritage exhibition on Nov. 29.

The Baekje Historic Areas, Korea’s 12th UNESCO-listed World Heritage site, are a group of monuments in three cities that all relate to the last Ungjin and Sabi periods of the Baekje Kingdom: Gongju, Buyeo and Iksan. The monuments include the Gongsanseong Fortress and royal tombs in Songsan-ri, both in Gongju, the Busosanseong Fortress and ancient buildings in Gwanbuk-ri, Jeongnimsa Temple and the royal toms in Neungsan-ri, and the Naseong ramparts, all in Buyeo. There are also the Wanggung-ri Palace and the Mireuksa Temple in Iksan.

The Baekje Historic Areas of World Heritage exhibition continues until Jan. 30 next year and welcomes visitors free-of-charge.

By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Jeon Han Korean.net Photographer, the National Museum of Korea
jiae5853@korea.kr