Kyujanggak () was the royal library of the

Joseon Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...

dynasty. It was founded in 1776 by order of

King Jeongjo of Joseon Jeongjo (; 28 October 1752 – 18 August 1800), personal name Yi San (), sometimes called Jeongjo the Great (), was the 22nd monarch of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. He was the second son of Crown Prince Sado and Lady Hyegyŏng, and succeeded ...

(as a major policy arm of his government), at which time it was located on the grounds of

Changdeokgung Changdeokgung () is a former royal palace in Seoul, South Korea. A UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Historic Sites (South Korea), Historic Site of South Korea, it is among the best preserved of all Korean palaces. It and its neighboring palace Cha ...

. Today known as Kyujanggak Royal Library, the Kyujanggak Archives are maintained by

Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a public university, public research university in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the SKY (universities), SKY universities and a part of the Flagship Korean National Universities. The university's main c ...

at the

Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a public university, public research university in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the SKY (universities), SKY universities and a part of the Flagship Korean National Universities. The university's main c ...

, located in

Sillim-dong Sillim-dong () is a ''Dong (administrative division), dong'' (neighborhood) of Gwanak District, Seoul, South Korea. Seoul National University and Nokdu Street are located in the town. Its name means "new forest", which was derived from the woods ...

Gwanak District Gwanak District () is one of the 25 districts (''gu'') of Seoul, South Korea. It lies on the southern skirt of Seoul, bordering Anyang, Gyeonggi Province. The southern border of Gwanak District, bordering Anyang, consists of the craggy ridg ...

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. The archive functions as a key repository of Korean historical records and a centre for research and publication of an annual journal titled ''Kyujanggak''.

History

It is named after imperial calligraphic works stored there, the ''kyujang'' (奎章), which literally means "writings of Kyu", a scholar-deity, but has come to refer to divinely inspired writings, in particularly, the emperor's. In 1782, the Outer Kyujanggak library (known as Oegyujanggak) was built in the ancient royal palace on

Ganghwado Ganghwa Island (), also Ganghwado, is an island in Ganghwa County, Incheon, South Korea. It is in the Yellow Sea and in an estuary of the Han River. The island is separated from Gimpo (on the South Korean mainland) by a narrow channel spanned b ...

to accommodate an overflow of books from the main Kyujanggak library at

, where the royal viewing copies were kept, and most of the viewing copies were transferred there. The library's role underwent various changes after the

Gabo Reforms The Kabo Reform () describes a series of sweeping reforms suggested to the government of Korea, beginning in 1894 and ending in 1896 during the reign of Gojong of Korea in response to the Donghak Peasant Revolution. Historians debate the degree ...

of 1894. In 1922, it was moved under the jurisdiction of

Keijo Imperial University Keijo may refer to: *Keijō , or Gyeongseong (), was an administrative district of Korea under Japanese rule that corresponds to the present Seoul, the capital of South Korea. History When the Empire of Japan annexed the Korean Empire, it m ...

, which later gave rise to the Seoul National University. The library moved to its present location in 1990 and became independent of the Seoul National University Central Library in 1992.

Looting and repatriation

In 1866, during the

French campaign against Korea The French Intervention to Korea (, ) was an 1866 punitive expedition undertaken by the Second French Empire against Joseon Korea in retaliation for the execution of seven French Catholic missionaries. The encounter over Ganghwa Island las ...

, the troops attacked

and seized a vast amount of silverware, royal artifacts, and 297 volumes of royal

Uigwe ''Uigwe'' () is the generic name given to a collection of approximately 3,895 books recording in detail the royal rituals and ceremonies of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. There is no generally agreed English translation for the title of the work; ...

from the Outer Kyujanggak library and burned down the building. The Korean Government tried to retrieve the royal documents through a permanent lease, since French law prohibits its national assets being transferred abroad. In 2010, a Seoul-based civic group spearheaded the return but the request to exclude illegally obtained property from its list of national assets was rejected by a Paris court. An agreement was made by President Lee Myung-bak and President Nicolas Sarkozy at the

2010 G-20 Seoul summit The 2010 G20 Seoul Summit was the fifth meeting of the G20 heads of government/heads of state, to discuss the global financial system and the world economy,Cho Jin-seo "Seoul unveils G20 summit's symbol," ''Korea Times'' (ROK). July 8, 2010; ...

to return the royal documents on a five-year renewable loan basis. From April to June 2011, 297 volumes with 191 different Uigwes, were shipped back in four separate installments and subsequently kept at the

National Museum of Korea The National Museum of Korea () is the flagship museum of Korean history and Korean art, art in South Korea. Since its establishment in 1945, the museum has been committed to various studies and research activities in the fields of archaeology ...

. In 1922, during the

Japanese occupation of Korea From 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled by the Empire of Japan under the name Chōsen (), the Japanese reading of "Joseon". Japan first took Korea into its sphere of influence during the late 1800s. Both Korea (Joseon) and Japan had been under polic ...

many volumes of books including 167 of

, along with some 1,000 other relics, stored at the main

Gyujanggak library Kyujanggak () was the royal library of the Joseon dynasty. It was founded in 1776 by order of King Jeongjo of Joseon (as a major policy arm of his government), at which time it was located on the grounds of Changdeokgung. Today known as Kyujangg ...

were also taken to Japan. In August 2010, then-Japanese Prime Minister

Naoto Kan is a Japanese former politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) from June 2010 to September 2011. Kan was the first Prime Minister since the resignation of Junichiro Koizumi in 2006 to ...

announced the return of the Uigwe to mark the centenary of the

Japanese annexation of Korea From 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled by the Empire of Japan under the name Chōsen (), the Japanese reading of "Joseon". Japan first took Korea into its sphere of influence during the late 1800s. Both Korea (Joseon) and Japan had been under polic ...

. After a 16-month process 1,200 volumes including 150 Uigwe were returned in December 2011, and subsequently kept at the

National Palace Museum of Korea National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

Collection

The collection has over 260,000 items, with many of them digitized and available online. Notably the

Annals of the Joseon Dynasty The ''Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty'', sometimes called ''sillok'' () for short, are state-compiled and published records, called Veritable Records, documenting the reigns of the kings of the Joseon dynasty in Korea. Kept from 1392 to ...

(aka Joseon Wangjo Sillok),

Daily Records of the Royal Secretariat ''Seungjeongwon ilgi'' () or the ''Diaries of the Royal Secretariat'' are records created by the '' Seungjeongwon'', one of the central political institutions during the Joseon period. They primarily document interactions between the king and var ...

(aka Seungjeongwon Ilgi) and

or "Royal Protocols" of the Joseon Dynasty, that were not looted and remained in Korea. They are among the

National treasures of South Korea National Treasure () is a national-level designation within the heritage preservation system of South Korea for tangible objects of significant artistic, cultural and historical value. Examples of objects include art, artifacts, sites, or buildi ...

and are inscribed in

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Memory of the World Programme UNESCO's Memory of the World (MoW) Programme is an international initiative to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity against collective amnesia, neglect, decay over time and climatic conditions, as well as deliberate destruction. It ca ...

. In addition, it has royal, government, private documents, such as land transactions and power of attorney and maps on natural geography and the state of society of Joseon Dynasty. The antique maps include a provincial map of 1872, a plotting-paper map stamped by Bibyeonsa, a Joseon map, and an eight-province map. It also has a database of Government records with 110 volumes in ten kinds kept by each provincial and gun office, 99 collections of compiled official documents, foreign diplomacy documents kept by each province, 149 volumes of foreign trade-related materials, 180 volumes of court proceeding records. The materials depicts how the nation took modernization policies and coped with aggressions of Western powers. The court proceeding records, from 1894 to 1910, provide information on life style of people from various walks of life, their way of thinking, and acts of the State. It also includes book titles plates and Naegak illyeok, at 1,249 volumes, a daily record of affairs kept by the Gyujanggak Royal Library from 1779 to 1883. Its contents are not found in other chronological documents covering the same period.

In media

The library was used as a filming location, as part of

, for

Seoul Broadcasting System Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS; ) is one of the leading Television in South Korea, South Korean television and radio broadcasters. The broadcaster legally became known as SBS in March 2000, changing its corporate name from Seoul Broadcasting ...

's 2008 drama ''

Star's Lover ''Star's Lover'' (; also known as ''Celebrity's Sweetheart'') is a 2008 South Korean television series starring Choi Ji-woo and Yoo Ji-tae that aired on SBS. A love story between a star actress and an ordinary man, director Boo Sung-chul said ...

''. It was used as the university of Kim Chul Soo's, played by

Yoo Ji-tae Yoo Ji-tae (; born April 13, 1976) is a South Korean actor. After a stint as a fashion model, Yoo launched his acting career in 1998 then rose to fame through the films '' Attack the Gas Station'' (1999) and '' Ditto'' (2000). In the succeeding ...

, employment, his lectures and Lee Ma-ri's, played by

Choi Ji-woo Choi Ji-woo (; born June 11, 1975), born Choi Mi-hyang (), is a South Korean actress. Considered one of South Korea's most beautiful women, she has received critical acclaim for her work in a wide range of melodramas, most notably '' Beautiful ...

, visit to the school. Other locations used included the gallery and museum roads. This is the first time the university has allowed its campus to be used as a filming location.

References

External links