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Joseon Royal Books Return Home after 145 Years in France With the arrival of the final set on May 27, all 297 volumes of the royal protocols of the Joseon Dynasty which had been housed at the National Library of France in Paris have been returned home to Korea. The return of these royal books, which are of immense cultural and academic significance, has been heralded with a series of commemorative events. Lee Kyong-hee Staff Reporter, The JoongAng Ilbo | Suh Heun-gang Photographer
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n 1782, during the sixth year of King Jeongjo’s reign, a remote branch of Gyujanggak, the royal library 1 and archives, was built on Ganghwa Island. It was named Oegyujanggak (literally “Outer Gyujanggak”), where over 5,000 volumes from the capital were relocated to the new archives. Among these materials were royal protocol volumes, detailed records of important state events. But in 1866 (third year of King Gojong), troops from a French naval vessel invaded Ganghwa Island and plundered about 340 volumes from the library’s collection, including 297 volumes of royal protocol. The remaining materials were set ablaze by the intruders. The whereabouts of these palace documents had long remained unknown until the Korean bibliographer Dr. Park Byeong-seon, who was working as a librarian at the National Library of France (Bibliotheque nationale de France), discovered the books in the library and released a listing of the documents in 1975. “The Anthology of Great Buddhist Priests’ Zen Teachings” (Jikji simche yojeol, or Jikji simgyeong) was also discovered by Dr. Park in the same library. This is the world’s earliest extant book printed with movable metal type, published in 1377 during the Goryeo Dynasty.
1. The front cover of “The Royal Protocol on the Conferment of Honor for Queen Jangnyeol” (Jangnyeol wanghu jonsung dogam uigwe , 1686). The book records the process in which Queen Jangnyeol (1624-1688), King Injo’s second wife, was conferred with an honorable title. This copy, produced for the king’s perusal, has covers of green, cloud-patterned silk, and the title is written on a separate strip of silk sewn onto the cover.
Negotiations for Return Seoul National University, which has assumed maintenance of materials from the Gyujanggak royal archives, initiated efforts to retrieve the Joseon royal books from the French library in 1991. Thereafter, the Korean government forwarded an official request to the French government for their return in 1992. During the KoreaFrance summit in 1993, when France lobbied for the export of its TGV high-speed train technology to Korea, French President François Mitterrand returned “The Royal Protocol on the Relocation of Hwigyeongwon Tomb” (Hwigyeongwon wonso dogam uigwe ), one of the royal protocols of Joseon that had been taken to France in 1866, and made a promise to return the remainder. This promise would not be fulfilled, however, due to opposition in France, including a protest lodged by the librarians of the National Library of France. Inter-governmental nego-
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Ko re a n Cu l tu re & A rts
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