Hunminjeongeum

The Hunminjeongeum Haerye (訓民正音 解例本), printed in 1446, is the explanatory text that accompanied King Sejong the Great's promulgation of the Korean alphabet (Hangeul). In 33 woodblock-printed pages it sets out the phonetic and philosophical principles — yin-yang, heaven-earth-humanity, movements of lip, teeth, and tongue — from which each Korean letter was designed, making it one of the most remarkable linguistic documents in world history. A single surviving copy, rediscovered in Andong in 1940 and preserved by collector Jeon Hyeong-pil, is National Treasure No. 70 and was inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World register in 1997; it is held today by the Kansong Art Museum in Seoul.

Exhibition Venue

Gansong Art Museum

Seoul, South Korea