What the moon jar is The moon jar is a large white porcelain jar made in the late Joseon dynasty, It is 41 centimeters high and about 40 centimeters wide, so its height and width are almost equal, creating the shape of a full moon. It was produced during the late 17th or early 18th century of the Joseon Dynasty. RM, the leader of BTS, famously loves and collects modern Moon Jars. Also, if you watched the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics , you might remember that the giant Olympic flame cauldron was shaped exactly like this beautiful vessel! But the Moon Jar’s global journey started long before K-pop or the Olympics. In the early 20th century, the famous British potter Bernard Leach (1887–1979) visited Seoul. He was completely captivated by the Moon Jar, purchased one, and carefully carried it all the way back to Europe. He was the very first person to introduce this quiet Korean beauty to the Western art world. Today, the exact jar he took from Seoul sits proudly on display in th...
Gyeongcheonsa Ten-Story Pagoda is the first marvel pagoda in Korea. Location: Gyeongcheonsa Ten-Story Pagoda originally stood in Gyeongcheon Temple near Gaeseong, in today’s Gaepung-gun area, just outside North Korea’s Gaeseong city, close to the current inter-Korean border region in the mid-Korean Peninsula. Who made it: On the first story of the pagoda, there is an inscription that tells us exactly who sponsored and why they built it. It was built by two powerful court officials named Kang Yung and Go Yong-bo . why they made it: To understand this pagoda, we need to look at Goryeo’s dangerous politics in the 14th century. At that time, Goryeo was heavily controlled by the Mongol Yuan dynasty. The two powerful officials who built it gained wealth by cooperating closely with the Mongols. They dedicated this magnificent pagoda to Empress Ki, a Goryeo woman who had been taken to the Mongol Yuan dynasty as a tribute girl but later rose to become empress. So this wa...