Items from Japanese colonial period to be showcased in 80 years

The Suwon municipal government announced on Thursday that a special exhibition titled “Return: Back to where it’s supposed to be” showcasing donated relics at Bukukwon until November 29.

Bukukwon is a nursery and farming equipment company founded in 1923 during the Japanese colonial period. Since the Korean War, its building had used as the office of Suwon District Court and Prosecutors' Office until the 1980s when it was renovated into a private clinic. The Suwon municipal government purchased the building facing demolition in 2015 and has been using it as an exhibition space for modern history and culture. The building was registered as a cultural property by the Cultural Heritage Administration in 2017.

The special exhibition will feature over 20 relics, including a wall-mounted pendulum clock, which was used in the building during the Japanese colonial period, insurance policy, inspection report of traded produce, and Bukukwon’s monthly report issued in 1942. Most items are from the personal collection of a person surnamed Lee who had worked at the company for over 20 years since 1926. Lee’s grandson kept the items before donating them to the Suwon municipal government in October last year. The monthly report was donated by the director of a children’s library of the Suwon Cultural Foundation in Joseong-myeon.


lkj@donga.com