THE KOREA COLLECTION

After the Russian-Japanese War, Korea was integrated into the Japanese Empire as Chosen colony. During the colonial era (1910 – 1945), Korea was modernized economically and socially. At the same time, the Korean population’s rights were curtailed, their culture, language and religion suppressed.

In 1908, the archbishop of Seoul visited St. Ottilien and asked the Missionary Benedictines to support the Paris Mission (Missions Étrangères) in the education sector. His request was granted, and the first missionaries arrived in Korea in 1909. St. Benedict monastery, installed in the same year in Seoul, was in 1913 the first Benedictine abbey in the Far East. However, the missionaries’ work was subject to surveillance and repressions by the Japanese colonial regime.

In 1921, the Missionary Benedictines took over a mission area in the north of Korea that extended as far as Manchuria, which belonged to China. There Yanji (Yenki) abbey was founded. In 1927, the Missionary Benedictines transferred their leading monastery from Seoul to Tokwon near the seaport of Wonsan in today’s North Korea.

After the end of World War II and the following separation of Korea, from 1949 a total of 38 Brothers and Fathers from St. Ottilien, Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing and local priests lost their lives in the communist northern part of the peninsula at executions, solitary confinement or encampment. The survivors were released in 1954 and could return to Germany. The local members of the monasteries, who could make it to South Korea, founded Waegwan Abbey in 1953 – today the Missionary Benedictine’s largest monastery in Asia.

History of the collection

Archabbot Norbert Weber went on two long journeys in 1911 and 1924/25 to gain first-hand information on the development of the mission in Korea; from these travels, he brought around 350 objects back to St. Ottilien, which can be assigned to him as a collector. Abbot Bishop Bonifaz Sauer, Fr. Andreas Eckardt and Fr. Dominikus Enshoff were as well important collectors.

The Japanese colonial regime tried to overlay Korean traditions with Japanese culture. This was the reason why Archabbot Norbert Weber was able to buy objects of art and everyday culture from junk dealers. One of his intentions was to preserve the objects and save at least a part of the vanishing old Korean culture.

Archabbot Norbert Weber could study the use of the objects at the Korean Christian's houses, where he stayed during his travels. He summed up his experiences in several books, among them “Im Lande der Morgenstille” (In the Land of the Morning Calm) and “In den Diamantbergen Koreas” (In the Korean Diamond Mountains). In addition, he made films about everyday life scenes, which are shown at the Mission Museum; hundreds of photos were taken.

Two guardian statues, usually placed at the entrance of a village or temple ground, mark the start of the museum’s Korea collection. They do not come from the mission epoch but were crafted on commission. The scaled model of a Korean house for men was designed by Br. Rasso Petz OSB after his return from communist confinement.

Living environment in old Korea

The "everyday life" showcase presents a wine and dinner table with the characteristic food bowls and chopsticks, as well as stackable crockery for travel. The opposite case is dedicated to the mission topic and shows testimonies of Christian faith and of Christian persecution in Korea.

One cabinet is dedicated to women, whose sphere of activity was limited to their home environment. In the context of the important wedding event, the groom’s letter for the bride’s parents is presented as well as wedding chest, wedding geese, rainbow-colored wedding gown and bridal crown. Utensils of traditional women’s tasks as laundry sticks, flatiron and samples of colorful children’s clothes complement this subject.

As a counterpart, another cabinet portrays the men’s living world. On display is a scholar’s house robe with corresponding hat behind a writing desk with brush, ink stone and bookmark. Traditional men’s headdresses, protectors for clothes and wooden shoes show other parts of the men’s sphere. Smoking utensils show the strong impact of this habit on all strictly organized social classes of Korean society. A mourning attire for men demonstrates the complex rituals, which had to be complied by the eldest son after his parent’s death, excluding him from social life during the mourning period.

Culture and religion

Clay and porcelain vessels serve as examples for the development of porcelain art during three formative epochs of Korean history from the 5th century to the beginning of the 20th century. Metal artworks as bronze mirrors or objects with silver inlay present old Korea’s high-level artisanship.

Another cabinet shows testimonies of the three formative belief systems in Korea, Korean Shamanism, Buddhism and Confucianism as a social ethics. Archabbot Norbert Weber was particularly interested in Buddhism. On his travels, he frequently visited temples and monasteries seeking for exchange and dialogue with Buddhist monks and nuns.

A selection of typical Korean musical instruments shows wind, string and percussion instruments; among them, an hourglass drum, the string instrument geomungo ("black zither"), clash cymbals, flutes and an oboe.

Agricultural objects like straw sandals and hat, a broom and plough model, and tools like hammer or sickle reflect rural agriculture-based life around the turn of the 20th century. The scissors of the sweets vendor served as a "bell" to signal his arrival in the village to the children.

Even military clothes are part of the permanent exhibition, e.g. the "Red Harness" from the beginning of the 20th century with corresponding helmet, a military civil servant’s hat, a silk cloak with woven dragon symbols and weapons like bows and arrows.

When the missionaries started teaching, they had to write their own schoolbooks. This included not only profound knowledge of the Korean language, which was indispensable in everyday life; as well, they had to learn Chinese as this was the language of science. Fr. Andreas (André) Eckardt (1884-1974), the author of the exhibited textbook, is said to be the founder of Korean studies in Germany. He not only committed himself to language studies, but also wrote about many topics of Korean history and culture. One page of a herbarium he collected in 1913, is on display in the permanent exhibition.

The collection’s highlight is the "Complete Map of the World" of 1860, a Korean reprint of the 1674 original, designed by Jesuit Ferdinand Verbiest SJ at the Chinese emperor’s court. The map includes numerous descriptions of natural phenomena, countries and characteristics of their inhabitants as well as paintings of animals unknown to the 17th century China.