The Cheongju Early Printing Museum (

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

: 청주고인쇄박물관) is a museum in

Cheongju Cheongju () is the capital and largest List of cities in South Korea, city of North Chungcheong Province in South Korea. History Cheongju has been an important provincial town since ancient times. In the Cheongju Mountains, specifically in the ...

, South Korea. The museum is dedicated to the history of printing in Korean culture. It is the first museum dedicated to printing in Korea.

History

In 1992, the museum was opened, the intention of the creation of the museum was to conserve Heungdeoksa artifacts at the Uncheon-dong land development site. In 2007, the museum was designated as a Jikji Special Cultural Zone. In 2015, a Jikji metal type printing plate was restored using traditional techniques. In 2017, 864 million won was allocated to remodel parts of the building and replace panels in the exhibits. On December 15, 2017, the museum reopened, the reopening ceremony was attended by Lee Beom-seok, Mayor of Cheongju at that time, Hwang Young-ho, Cheongju City Council Chairman and Na Gi-jeong, Jikji Cultural Association Chairman. The museum has been a major contributor "UNESCO International Archives and Heritage Center of Cheongju attractions" in 2017. Since 2019, the museum has been part of the

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world. It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...

platform. In 2021, the museum organized a survey on a name change, in which the Museum Management Committee participated, among the names suggested for the museum were Cheongju Jikji Printing Museum, Jikji Printing Museum, Korea Printing Museum, Cheongju Jikji Museum and Jikji Museum.

Collections

The museum contains more than 650 books dating from the

Silla Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of K ...

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...

and

Joseon Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

periods. The first exhibition hall contains exhibits about

Jikji ''Jikji'' () is the abbreviated title of a Korean Buddhist document whose title can be translated to "Anthology of Great Buddhist Priests' Zen Teachings".type metal In printing, type metal refers to the metal alloys used in traditional typefounding and hot metal typesetting. Historically, type metal was an alloy of lead, tin and antimony in different proportions depending on the application, be it individu ...

. The museum contains

movable metal types, which was the first movable metal types invented in the world. Among the exhibits are woodblock prints and printing tools. For 5 years since 2011, the museum carried out the 30000 letters restoration project, this project was called "Koryo Metal Type Restoration Project". The museum contains exhibits about printing in Korean culture. In 2020, the museum held an exhibition about the discovery of Gyeongjaja (Korean: 경자자) in 1420 and printing in the early Joseon Dynasty.

References

External links

Google Arts & Culture
{{Authority control Museums in South Korea 1992 establishments in South Korea Printing press museums Early Korean history