Cutting-edge tech keeps Korea's ancient heritage alive at National Museum's new conservation center
Published: 28 Oct. 2025, 14:47
Updated: 28 Oct. 2025, 18:23
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- LEE JIAN
- [email protected]
![A conservator is restoring a traditional painting and calligraphic work at the National Museum of Korea's new Conservation Science Center in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Oct. 28. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/10/28/8e619960-5f64-4815-b86d-bbe04c9eda88.jpg)
A conservator is restoring a traditional painting and calligraphic work at the National Museum of Korea's new Conservation Science Center in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Oct. 28. [NEWS1]
The National Museum of Korea opened its new Conservation Science Center in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Tuesday.
The facility, spanning a floor area of 9,196 square meters within the museum grounds, integrates technologies such as 3-D analysis, CT scanning and remote diagnostics with training and seminar spaces, establishing a comprehensive hub for cultural heritage conservation and research.
![The National Museum of Korea's new Conservation Science Center in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Oct. 28. [NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KOREA]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/10/28/c653fa62-bdcc-4850-a0d8-42283a997e04.jpg)
The National Museum of Korea's new Conservation Science Center in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Oct. 28. [NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KOREA]
The center's opening is significant, as it coincides with the 50th anniversary of the museum’s first conservation research efforts through its Conservation Technology Division in 1976. Since 1999, the museum has also published a professional academic journal, Museum Conservation Science, twice a year, covering topics such as the scientific conservation and analysis of cultural heritage and museum environments.
![Conservators perform a dry-ceaning treatment on a wooden Buddha statue at the National Museum of Korea's new Conservation Science Center on Oct. 28, in Yongsan District, central Seoul. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/10/28/ac178bec-9a49-4433-9829-a9ca4c35fe8b.jpg)
Conservators perform a dry-ceaning treatment on a wooden Buddha statue at the National Museum of Korea's new Conservation Science Center on Oct. 28, in Yongsan District, central Seoul. [NEWS1]
![The National Museum of Korea's conservators restore ceramics at the museum's conservation room in the 1980s. [NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KOREA]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/10/28/4258dcbb-27a0-497d-9f5c-8237a898d916.jpg)
The National Museum of Korea's conservators restore ceramics at the museum's conservation room in the 1980s. [NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KOREA]
“The Conservation Science Center is like a general hospital for Korea’s cultural heritage. Its opening marks both the culmination of 50 years of scientific preservation and research of our cultural assets, and a new starting point for future generations," museum director You Hong-june told the press at the National Museum of Korea on Tuesday. “Through cutting-edge technology, we aim to establish the center as a world-class hub for conservation science research.”
To commemorate the opening of the Conservation Science Center, a special exhibition titled “Conservation Science: A New Beginning, A Shared Future” is being held in the first-floor gallery of the center through June 30 next year. Organized into three sections, the exhibition looks back on the 50-year journey of conservation science at the National Museum of Korea, exploring the field's future direction through stories of science, technology and the people behind them.
![Replica of Glit-bronze Shoes restored through 3-D scanning, CT imaging and microscopic analysis [NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KOREA]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/10/28/4af358f8-10e2-4553-b7fc-53ef82368e99.jpg)
Replica of Glit-bronze Shoes restored through 3-D scanning, CT imaging and microscopic analysis [NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KOREA]
In particular, the last section, “The New Future of Conservation Science,” explores a new preservation paradigm propelled by the National Museum’s 3-D scanning, CT imaging and microscopic analysis. It digitally reconstructs a pair of Gilt-Bronze Shoes excavated in 1924 from the Sikri Tomb in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang. For the first time in 100 years, the complete form of the shoes has been restored by digitally aligning and integrating fragments that had been stored separately, according to the museum.
The first part of the exhibition looks back on the museum’s history of artifact conservation, while the second explores how light is used in preservation science. For example, it demonstrates how hyperspectral imaging—a technique that captures information across a wide range of light wavelengths beyond what the human eye can see—can help restore the original look of ancient works. Using this method, researchers have reconstructed the faded 6th-century wall paintings from Goguryeo’s Gaemam Tomb (37 B.C.–A.D. 668). Visitors can also explore a Clay Figure of a Mounted Warrior, a National Treasure excavated from Gyeongju’s Geumryeong Tomb, by adjusting CT scan images to view the artifact’s interior from multiple angles.
![Nation Museum of Korea Director You Hong-june speaks to reporters in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Oct 28. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/10/28/99c59644-a6c5-4b35-a8f2-b2c785a683f0.jpg)
Nation Museum of Korea Director You Hong-june speaks to reporters in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Oct 28. [NEWS1]
The center’s opening day also marks You’s 100th day in office.
“Perhaps because I became director at a time when K-culture is at its peak, I feel more concerned than joyful,” You said. “When you’ve reached the top, there’s nowhere to go but down — and that worries me. Reaching 5 million visitors is a remarkable milestone. It shows that the public’s cultural engagement has reached a new level.”
He attributed the achievement to two factors: the revitalization of the children’s museums across the country and the active introduction of media art, which helped reinterpret artifacts in the context of contemporary meaning.
The museum expects to maintain its free entry policy but is slated to run pilot trials of online preregistration systems for visitors planning to visit in the first half of next year.
“Gathering accurate demographic data remains difficult since much of it is still done manually, but we expect the new system will improve this considerably,” said You.
BY LEE JIAN [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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