Oldest western-style world map in S.Korea 'Mangukjeondo' preserved in Yecheon Museum

▲ This photo, provided by Yecheon county, shows Mangukjeondo. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, July 7 (Yonhap) -- The oldest western-style world map in Korea, Mangukjeondo, the World Map, has made its place in the Yecheon Museum, Gyeongbuk.

The World map is a map that has been copied and colored by Park Jeong-seol (1612-1693), born in Yongmun-myeon, Yecheon, in 1661. It is based on the world map made by the Italian missionary, Giulio Aleni, inside the world geography book "Jikbangwaegi."

It is the oldest among the existing Western-style world maps in Korea. Ulleungdo and Mt. Baekdusan Mountain, which are not in Giulio Aleni's World Map, are marked, and it is evaluated as a valuable resource to give a glimpse into the territorial perception of the literate during the Joseon Dynasty.

The Mangukjeondo, designated as a treasure on August 1, 1989, was stolen from Seoul in September 1993, after the descendants of Park Jeong-seol moved to Seoul. In November 2018, 25 years later, the cultural property authorities recovered what was hidden in the wallpaper of a restaurant in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province.

Originally, the descendants of Park Jeong-seol promised to preserve it at the Yecheon Museum, which was six months before its opening in August 2020. However, it was moved to the museum from the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage on July 1, nearly two years after the lawsuit over the ownership went to the Supreme Court.

The museum plans to reveal the mangukjeondo to the public in October, the month of Dokdo.

"The mangukjeondo has returned to Yecheon after many twists and turns," said a museum official. "With this, the Yecheon Museum has secured 268 treasures and has the largest number of treasures among the public museums in Korea.”

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Haemin Kim.)

(END)

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved