Samsung family donates stone statues for Gwanghwamun Gate restoration project

Korean Heritage

Published: 29 Aug. 2023, 10:20 Updated: 29 Aug. 2023, 18:09

Samsung family donates stone statues for Gwanghwamun Gate restoration project

The two stone statues of an auspicious animal known as seosu that used to decorate the woldae, a wide platform, in front of the Gwanghwamun Gate of the Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), have been donated by the family of the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee on Monday. [CULTURAL HERITAGE ADMINISTRATION]

The family of late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee donated to the country two pieces of the stone statue depicting an auspicious animal called seosu, which used to decorate the woldae, or a wide platform, in front of the Gwanghwamun Gate of Gyeongbok Palace during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) said Tuesday.

The statues will be used in restoring the woldae of the Gwanghwamun Gate, which is to be completed in October, the CHA added.

It said the two seosu statues were a part of Lee's vast collection of art pieces, adding that Lee's family wanted to donate them to the administration to be used in the restoration project of the woldae.

The CHA has been working together with the Seoul Metropolitan Government to renovate Gwanghwamun Square as a means to create more leisure and walking space in the capital's bustling downtown, which includes a historical restoration project to bring back the woldae.

A photograph of Gwanghwamun Gate's woldae, wide platform, featuring the seosu animal statues after they were relocated in 1910. [NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KOREA]

An illustration of what Gwanghwamun Gate's woldae, wide platform, will look like after it is done being restored in October. [CULTURAL HERITAGE ADMINISTRATION]

The woldae in front of Gwanghwamun Gate was about 48.7 meters (160 feet) long and 29.7 meters wide. Though the exact time of its construction is unknown, the CHA said the woldae's existence dates back to King Gojong's reign, between 1863 and 1907.

Woldae included a path designated for the king, called eodo, at the center that connects to the Gwanghwamun Gate. Eodo is presumed to be about 7 meters wide.

The two seosu statues, according to the CHA, used to decorate the two front ends of this king's path.

Art historian Kim Min-kyu, who is also an advisor to the Cultural Heritage Administration, said on Tuesday that seosu is also an animal that appears when the king is good at politics, adding that is why it was important that “the sculptures were placed at the woldae of Gwanghwamun Gate.”

Kim said the experts working with the CHA were planning on restoring the seosu sculptures of the woldae based on old photographs, but now that the existence of the real sculptures has been confirmed and donated, they will act as a finishing touch to this restoration project.

The CHA said it has carried out various research and concluded the two statues were real.

"When we studied the bottom part of the statues and the excavated part of woldae that was used as a support for the statues, we found that their shapes and sizes matched," Lee Jong-suk, a researcher from the National Palace Museum of Korea, said.

"We also carefully compared the shape, size, style and materials of the statues with photographs from the same time and concluded that it matches the statues used in Gwanghwamun Gate's woldae that was built during King Gojong's reign."

The CHA said it held a private donation ceremony with the Lee family at the National Palace Museum of Korea in central Seoul on Monday, adding that the family members "hope the seosu statues will be used meaningfully."

In hopes of continuing the late Lee's belief that "preservation of cultural heritage is an epochal duty for the future of human culture," the family donated some 23,000 artworks, including 60 cultural properties like national treasures.

"The donated statues will be used meaningfully in restoring the woldae to be as close as possible to the original," Choi Eung-chon, the head of CHA, said. "Gyeongbok Palace will soon be restored to its original [appearance], and Korea will continue to be known globally as a cultural powerhouse with its strong and proud cultural heritage."

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]