[Announcement] Nobel Peace Prize exhibit comes to Seoul

Permanent peace in the coming 21st century, recalling the horrible scenes of wars in the 20th century -- the first Nobel Peace Prize went to Jean Henry Dunant (1828-1910), who founded the International Committee of the Red Cross. President Kim Dae-Jung was honored as the first laureate in the new millennium.

The Promotion Committee for the Centennial Exhibition of Nobel Peace Prize (www.nobel100.co.kr) will hold the exhibition to provide spectators with a chance to see the messages that the prize delivers to mankind through the various items displayed from Friday through Jan. 26 at the Atlantic Hall of COEX in Samsong-dong, southern Seoul.

A total of 160 items will be displayed here from the Swedish Nobel Museum, Chicago Peace Museum and Children¡¯s Peace Museum in Missouri and Bradford Museum of Britain. They will be displayed in seven independent halls, classified by subjects.

In the first hall, about 20 different kinds of equipment for research Nobel used and dynamite he developed are displayed. Passing an 8-meter dark tunnel from here, the second hall waits for visitors to show motion pictures of the of the wars that broke out in the 20th century, such as World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War for five minutes.

The third hall displays biographies, articles left by 22 of Nobel Peace Prize winners such as Henry Dunant, Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King and President Kim Dae-Jung, and relief goods.

The fourth hall features the model of the stand at the Oslo City Hall in Norway for the award ceremony of the Nobel Peace Prize.

In the fifth and seventh halls are displayed a book of quotations from famous world figures wishing for peace, a place to experience peace through puzzle games, about 20 paintings of witnesses of the Hiroshima atomic bombing, and the pictures of 114 people killed by various firearms.

In the seventh hall, visitors can see an establishment, a shape of prison made of about 7,000 firearms collected from across the world.

¡°What is required of this era when conflicts and feuds persistently continue is the peace in the life people live trusting and without hurting each other,¡± co-chairman of the committee Stephen Cardinal Kim Sou-Hwan said. ¡°This exhibition aims at recalling the noble message of the Nobel Peace Prize encouraging the mankind to devote itself to peace.¡±

The admission fee is 5,000 won for adults and 3,000 won for elementary, middle and high school students. For more information, call +82 2 511-9961.

min07@donga.com