A service offering integrated digital data on Korea’s cultural treasures became available on the first day of 2014.

The Korea National Heritage Online portal (http://www.heritage.go.kr/index.html) gives access to a complete range of digital content collected from existing subsidiary websites run by the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA). In addition, 1.8 million new pieces of data were created to reach the many users anxious to learn more about the nation’s treasures.


The searchable portal site allows visitors to browse through difficult-to-find digital content, including in-depth interpretations of cultural assets, excavated relics and research data. It is also dedicated to giving viewers a better understanding of the heritage items with the help of visual materials such as original images and video clips.

The treasure trove consists of four sections: the Cyber Heritage Tour Service, the National Memory Heritage Service, the Cultural Heritage Exhibition Service and, lastly, the Cultural Heritage Learning Service.

▷ The Cyber Heritage Tour Service

Each Korean item listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, Memory of the World Register and Intangible Heritage List is revived in the form of a video with a detailed explanation.

Also available are visual materials of five royal Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) palaces, including Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung, and royal tombs of the era. Other content is also stored here, including information about the nation’s ancient architectural technology, religions, history and natural legacies.

▷ The National Memory Heritage Service

This section introduces a wide range of documents regarding National Treasures, Important Folklore Material and Tangible Heritage Items, sorting them by type, region and period. Most notably, one can find images of historical texts and interpretations of age-old literary documents.

▷ The Cultural Heritage Exhibition Service

This online museum uses 3D simulation to allow people to explore the artifacts on exhibit at 12 national and university museums nationwide.

▷The Cultural Heritage Learning Service

This section of the site is aimed at younger audiences. Here, history and all the tales and stories entangled with a piece of cultural heritage are interpreted and made easier to understand for young learners, sometimes using cartoons.



The site allots much of its space to education, as well. It has available 23 video clips that chronicle Korean history, from the Gojoseon, or ”ancient Joseon,” period (2333 B.C.- 108 B.C.) all the way up to modern times. There are five more videos featuring a pair of international tourists--a woman and a hearing-impaired girl--who appear together to start touring the country and get introduced to some must-see heritage sites.

“Some of the content available here is provided in three other languages, too, including English, Japanese and simplified Chinese, for our foreign visitors,” said an official from the CHA. “More dubbing work and subtitles in those three languages will be coming up soon, maybe around the middle of this month.”

According to the CHA, this service is part of its efforts to achieve the main goal of the current administration’s “Government 3.0,” project: sharing, openness, communication and cooperation. It will continue to go all-out to produce, diversify, put together and bring to the public high-quality content, the CHA said in a statement.

By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
jiae5853@korea.kr