Gold Culture of Afghanistan exhibition opens in Seoul

The beads decorated on the thin golden edges and the tree branch-shaped decoration... The golden crown from Afghanistan’s Tillya Tepe ruins has many in common with that of the Shilla Dynasty. The details and production methods are clearly not the same, but the overall impression of the two crowns are very similar. It is surprising how two cultures of 400 years and thousands of miles apart can be so familiar.

The National Museum of Korea launched on Tuesday a special exhibition of introducing 231 artifacts of the National Afghanistan Museum for the first time to Korea. Afghanistan connects to China to the East, Europe to the West, and India to the South, making it a hub of exchanges between civilizations from the past. The trace of such mix of culture is manifested in many parts of the exhibition.

One example is the golden glass with geometric patterns discovered in the Tepe Fullol ancient ruins of 2000 B.C., which shows the influence of Mesopotamian and Indus civilizations. Greek letters are found on artifacts from Ai-Khanoum, which was established by Alexandros of Macedonia in 400 B.C. The Persian-style architecture discovered from the same area presents Hellenism culture, a combination of Greek and Oriental cultures.

Antiques of Begram, the summer capital of the Kushan Dynasty, are also introduced. Begram was a capital of Kapisi, recorded by a Chinese monk in the 7th century. Glass, bronze, plaster, lacquerware of the 1st century found palace field are displayed.

The Gold Culture of Afghanistan exhibition first started in 2006 at the Guimet Museum in Paris, followed by 11 other countries. The ancient ruins are being moved from one place to another, unable to go back to their homeland suffering from a civil war. South Korea will be the 12th to host the exhibition, also commemorating a decade since its launch. The event will be open until September 4, and be continued at the Gyeongju National Museum from September 27 to November 27.

김상운 기자sukim@donga.com