세계문화유산 등재 고구려벽화고분의 현황과 과제

Abstract

Since Koguryo sites in North Korea and China has been registered as World Heritage, a lot of national and international attention focused on the current status, conservation and maintenance of Koguryo sites. With North Korean administration’ s positive attitude and the participation of professionals from related fields and international organizations such as UNESCO, ICCROM, and ICOMOS, and financial support of ROK and Japan, a lot of effort to has been put into conserving Koguryo mural tombs in North Korea even before World Heritage registration. The result of such effort was presented through photograph exhibition in UNESCO headquarters in Paris in 2012, drawing further interest in additional conservation and maintenance. On the other hand, because the conservation and management of Koguryo sites in China are only done through Chinese government administration, the status and tasks remain little known, drawing professional interests for different reasons. Koguryo mural tombs registered as World Heritage, unlike other sites, are very vulnerable to change in environment. Therefore, the accurate assessment of current status and finding solutions for exposed problems are crucial and international cooperation is necessary. Among the needs are establishment of research post, organization of international network, and collection and sharing of research, conservation data. What also needs to be sought and practiced simultaneously along with the conservation and maintenance of the environment of Koguryo mural tomb are the record conservation activity and the accumulation and application of academic data gained. The primary works for record keeping are photographing the site and copying the murals. In case of North Korea, copying murals have become established as an independent genre in art, producing number of professionals per generation. However, the situation is different in china and international cooperation system is necessary for accurate copying of murals in China. Koguryo mural tombs are product of Koguryo culture and art as well as a valuable historical resource that illustrates the progress in East Asian cultural exchange and developments in religion. It is at the same time a main force in the development of ancient Korean culture and fruit of ancient Korean cultural experience influencing contemporary culture. The detailed examination of Koguryo tomb murals and the accumulation of academic data would also benefit the vitalization of Korean cultural content industry.