A hands-on exhibition is opening that invites visitors to encounter the ruins of the once-flourishing Geumgwan Gaya kingdom.
The National Research Institute of Gaya Cultural Heritage, part of the Korea Heritage Service, said the exhibition "Coloring, Bonghwang: Reviving Memories of the Gaya Royal Capital Through Color" will run from the 29th through Nov. 21 in the first-floor lobby of the National Gaya History and Culture Center in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, marking the 10th anniversary of excavation work at the Gimhae Bonghwang-dong Site.
The Gimhae Bonghwang-dong Site is believed to have been the royal capital of Geumgwan Gaya, one of the six Gaya states. Through excavations that began in 2015, the institute has gathered a wide range of material illustrating the royal capital, including traces of large-scale ground preparation as well as various structural remains and artifacts. Jeong Hyeon-seok, who served as magistrate of Gimhae during the reign of King Gojong in the late Joseon period, named the village's hill "Bonghwangdae" because its shape resembled a phoenix spreading its wings, and the name gradually became the area's place name.
Rather than simply listing a decade of research findings in the conventional exhibition format, this exhibition was designed to offer a fresh look at those records through the Gimhae Bonghwang-dong Site and the colors found at the excavation site. Alongside archaeological findings, it presents the daily working lives of the archaeologists who built the excavation site together as a record in itself — memos reflecting their deliberations, soil-stained work clothes and proof copies revised countless times in preparing reports.
The exhibition is divided into three main parts. Part 1, "Ground: The Colors of Time Held by the Royal Capital," examines traces of the people who lived in Bonghwang-dong long ago through ground preparation work and excavated artifacts (replicas). Part 2, "People: Archaeologists Are Heading Home, Too," introduces the daily lives of the archaeologists who have surveyed and recorded those traces.
In the final section, Part 3, "Place: Encounters Always Create Something New," visitors can choose and record their own colors. After touring the exhibition hall and reviewing 12 colors and the excavation stories tied to each, visitors who select five colors receive a "Bonghwang color box" composed of their own color combination as a souvenir.
Admission is free, and further details are available on the National Research Institute of Gaya Cultural Heritage website.
