Korean folk village

Korean folk village

I have been hearing for some time that Seoul is a wonderful city. Seoul, the capital of South Korea, is situated on the eastern coast of Asia, between Japan and China. The whole of Korea is divided into two, the North and South, with extreme political and economic differences between them.

Since I have a deep interest in Asian culture and heritage, we planned to tour Seoul in September this year. Korea is a culturally advanced country and has been included by UNESCO in the international registry of world heritages. The beauty of modern Seoul especially its hilly areas, with Korea's simultaneous conservation of land and the maintenance of an eco-friendly ambience is truly a sight for sore eyes.

We arrived in Seoul in the early hours of September 11. When we started from the airport towards our hotel, we caught the first glimpses of the modern sparkling city surrounded by the Hang River and green hills. The long river flows through the heart of the city and countless bridges connect the two parts that the river has divided.

There are many exotic tourist attractions in the city but due to a shortage of time, we managed to visit only a few. The Seoul Tower, castles, museums, especially the war museum, and traditional craft streets are great attractions for tourists. The Gyeongbokgung Palace is great, both in its magnanimity and in terms of its historical lineage. The Korean government maintains a rich folk museum in the palace complex. Various parts of the castle still carry glorious symbols of the bygone Korean empire and the colourful wooden roof represents their gorgeous culture. I found a Japanese-style straight-line crisscross window design in the palace. Some doors are similar to the Kyomijo Temple of Kyoto, the former capital of Japan. Inside the castle, a wonderful garden is also an attraction for the visitors.

There are many temples and palaces in Seoul. Chandeokgung is one of their five important palaces because of its inclusion in UNESCO's world heritage list. Changdeokgung Palace was originally built as a detached palace of Gyeongbokgung in the early Joseon Era. It was destroyed by a fire during the Japanese invasion in 1592, but rebuilt after the war. Later, it served as an official royal palace until the mid-19th century in place of Gyeongbokgung Palace. Even in the 20th century, it was used as the royal palace when Sunjong, the last emperor of the Korean Empire was on the throne. He died while living in this palace after the Japanese Annexation of Korea in 1910.

This year, the Koreans are celebrating their sixtieth anniversary of ceasefire, which tool place on July 27, 1953. Many foreign soldiers, who helped South Korea during the war against North Korea were invited for the commemoration. Therefore, the War Museum was a great stopover for tourists. The museum premises are very huge and decorated with many monuments. The long sculpture `Korean War Tower' and 'Statue of Korea's Defenders' are placed in front of entrance to pay tribute to the memories of those brave soldiers and civilians who sacrificed their lives for their land. Inside the museum, the style of display is very fascinating; each display unit is arranged such that they portray their historical war period chronologically. They also air live documentaries with digital displays and holographic projections.

The traditional craft street, in the center of Seoul, is another interesting place for tourists. There are many traditional craft shops with attractive green celadon ceramic potteries, natural fabrics, Korean fans and tea houses with wonderful handmade tea pots. In terms of food, people are spoilt for choice with friendly and welcoming Japanese and Indian restaurants scattered throughout the street.

We also visited a small city called Suwon, which is an hour's drive away from Seoul. At first we went to Ajou University to meet our friend Sumit, a medical student, who organised a trip to a Korean folk village.

The Korean Folk Village opened on 3rd October 1974 as an open-air folk museum and became an international tourist attraction for both Koreans and foreign visitors. The museum occupies approximately 243 acres of land and the area maintains a natural and traditional Korean landscape. Many of the traditional houses take inspiration from the Choson dynasty.

Even though Korea is culturally different from Bangladesh, there are some striking similarities between our rural lifestyles. The type of dwellings they build are determined by social, cultural considerations as well as natural surroundings. The Koreans have efficiently utilised the spaces in the interior and exterior of their houses to achieve their own self-sufficiency, which has a similarity with old villages from Bengal. Eminent sociologist Max Weber described the Bengal village as self-sufficient because, during that time, in the east, peoples' lives were based on hydraulic (water and irrigation) systems with each and every village well organised by their Panchayat.

The Koreans designed their houses at par with their social, economic, and cultural developments, and have evolved from simple shelters satisfying basic needs, such as sleeping and cooking, into complicated and diverse forms having differentiated areas for raising cattle and storing grains, the main wing, and an annex. The organisers restored many different types of traditional houses in the folk museums; manor houses, commoners’ houses, farmers' houses and so on, which are built differently based on social rank and locality.

While walking, we were amazed by their methods of preservation. While strolling past the houses one by one, one gets the feeling of walking through time in an ancient Korean village. The huge, brown clay potteries are kept for grain storage and long wooden logs, with mask motifs, represent their totems and taboos.

In rural Bangladesh, the uthan (courtyard) is a very common and essential part of our lives, as it is with Korean villages that have inner wings, outer wings, and storage wings. In the central part of the country, commoners’ houses possess these three wings like the shape of letter “o” with open corners. The wings in farmers’ houses are L-shaped. The museum planner fantastically restored the houses of people of many different professions, such as carpenters, weavers, artists, craftsmen and they even arranged a nice village market for the tourists. They exhibited their cane products, including beautiful cane baskets. Artists displayed their art and many different types of masks were also available. In addition, there was a display where farmers exhibited their dry crops and many tools previously used for cultivation. We were excited when we found a rice scraper or dheki as it is known in Bengal.

The structures of the houses are made of clay walls and thatched. Another interesting part was the folk restaurant and amusement events. Because it is so well organised, the museum provides a fun, educational experience for people of all ages. Many school children visit the place with their teachers. They also have rope tracking, horse riding, and insinuated marriage ceremonies which appeal to their visitors.

In the end, the trip proved to be enjoyable not only in terms of tourist attractions but also in terms of historical and cultural enhancement. Right from the era of the Silla Kingdom, the Koreans have kept their history intact, gaining them UNESCO recognition and making certain elements of their heritage global historical assets.

NAZNEEN HAQUE MIMI
Interior Consultant
JOURNEYMAN
E-mail: journeyman.interiors@gmail.com
Photo Credit: Tamim Sujat