Heritage Korea 2024
Heritage Korea 2024, Korea’s only cultural heritage-related industry
and job fair, was staged for three days from September 10 to 12 at
Gyeongju Hwabaek International Convention Center, concluding
as a great success. NRICH participated in the fair through its booth
in the National Heritage R&D Technology Exhibition Hall as well as
booths operated by its staff members.
This eighth iteration of Heritage Korea, which was initially
launched in 2017, offered more segmented spaces than the
previous year. This year’s event consisted of five halls – the
Conservation Hall, New Technologies Hall, Products Hall,
Utilization Hall, and Publicity Hall – with 112 companies of diverse
sectors, from craftwork to food, souvenir, and performing
art, operating 308 booths and exhibitions of cutting-edge
technologies and R&D activities for national heritage industries
(national heritage excavation, maintenance and repair, safety
management technologies and systems, AI, metaverse, etc.).
Come to Play! Cultural Heritage?!
NRICH set up its exhibition booth with the theme “Come
to Play! Cultural Heritage?!” to help visitors access and
explore national heritage with ease. The exhibition offered
many must-see programs including “Experience Gongpo of
Traditional Buildings,” “Explore Vessels of Baekje and Silla,”
01 Opening ceremony of Heritage Korea 2024
02 Administrator of Korea Heritage Service Choi Eung-cheon visiting the NRICH booth
03 “Come to Play! Cultural Heritage?!” exhibition booth
and “Let’s Play in Gyeongju.”
The “Experience Gongpo of Traditional Buildings” program
featured lifelike gongpo (architectural bracket system to support
the weight of the edge of eaves for wooden buildings) produced
as an extension of traditional architectural technique research
by Wanju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage. This
provided a rare opportunity to get an up-close look at gongpo
reproduced based on the results of research on the tools used
by daemok (head carpenter responsible for the planning, design,
and construction of traditional wooden buildings and supervising
subordinate carpenters) and the wood-treating techniques of
artisans. A booklet illustrating NRICH’s research outcomes in
Korean and English was also distributed to program attendees.
The “Explore Vessels of Baekje and Silla” program was an
exhibition of reproductions created based on earthenware
research by NRICH’s Archaeological Heritage Division and
Gyeongju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage. In the Hands-On Experience Zone, participants were given the
chance to examine and handle different vessels conveying traits
unique to individual ancient kingdoms and identify the traces
of restoration and contamination on the exhibited earthenware
using UV rays.
Conserving National Heritage with State-of-the-Art
Technologies
As the role of digital technologies in the conservation of national
heritage continues to grow, related sectors took the spotlight
at Heritage Korea 2024. We also showcased the results of our
continued engagement in national heritage R&D technologies at
our booth in the National Heritage R&D Technology Exhibition
Hall. Among the 15 tasks of the Project to Develop Smart
Conservation and Utilization Technologies for National Heritage,
which has a total budget of KRW 48.9 billion for the five-year
period from 2021, we disclosed the outcomes of seven tasks.
We provided opportunities for the trial use of products
developed through the seven tasks, including an intelligent anti
theft alarm system and real-time theft tracking technology to more effectively manage cultural heritage in remote areas isolated from communication and power supply facilities and
an AI-based technology to convert hand-drawn floor plans
and other analog materials of traditional buildings into 3D CAD
drawings. We also offered technological transfer and product
purchase consulting for buyers.
As demonstrated through this year’s Heritage Korea, we will
remain dedicated to discovering new channels to share our
research and technological achievements with the public and
helping more people explore the ever-growing value of national
heritage.
Seven Tasks
• Development of an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) for
underwater cultural heritage research using autonomous
navigation technology (ANT) and on-site survey
• Development of intelligent HBIM wooden building modeling
technology for the conservation of historic and cultural
environments
• Development of AI-based technology to convert hand
drawn floor plans of traditional buildings into CAD drawings
• Development of ultra-high-resolution giga-pixel 3D data
generation technology
• Development of an intelligent anti-theft alarm system and
real-time theft tracking technology to prevent the theft of
cultural heritage in remote areas
• Development of a radiation technology alternative to
fumigation for the emergency conservation of movable
cultural heritage in response to disasters and accidents
• Development of smart exploration equipment for cultural
heritage research
04 “Come to Play! Cultural Heritage?!” exhibition booth
05 “Experience Gongpo of Traditional Buildings” and “Learn About Non-Destructive UV Ray Testing” programs
06 “Explore Vessels of Baekje and Silla” program
07 Exhibition commentary of the National Heritage R&D Technology Exhibition Hall