In Icheon, a city of superlative rice and ceramics, there is a municipal museum that provides information about the history and culture of Icheon. I decided to pay it a visit. Located in Seolbong Park, the Icheon Municipal Museum was built by following the exterior design of Changgyeong Palace. Comprised of a folk relic hall, an agricultural history hall, and a relic donation hall, the museum houses items excavated around the Seolbong Fortress.

Seolbong Park is a rest area for Icheon citizens and a place that many residents of Gyeonggi Province visit during the weekends. Icheon Cerapia (Korea Ceramic Foundation), Icheon Municipal Museum, Woljeon Museum, and Seolbong Seowon are all in Selbong Park, making the site all the more enjoyable and valuable.

After the 2001 World Ceramic Biennale was hosted in Icheon with great success, a variety of festivals have been held here in Selbong Park, thus heightening the renown of the park in Korea. Of particular note, the lake in the park looks quite gorgeous in harmony with Mt. Seolbong.

I’ve visited Seolbong Park a number of times before to enjoy festivals and leisurely drives, but it was my first time visiting the Icheon Municipal Museum.

Next to the Icheon Municipal Museum, structured in the shape of the Korean letter “ㅁ,” stands the five-tiered stone pagoda and three-tiered stone pagoda of Huan-ri, as well as the five-tiered Icheon stone pagoda. It is estimated that all the towers were erected in early Koryo Dynasty. The ㅁ-shaped structure leads visitors to enter the museum, explore, and exit through the same portal.

Right next to the entrance, there was an explanation about the history of the name ‘Icheon’. It is said that the history and culture of Icheon began near Bockha Stream, and the name ‘Icheon’ can be traced back to Iseopdaecheon, as bestowed by Wang Geon of Koryeo. The relics of Icheon, such as a rock tool and a hand axe, made me imagine the culture and lives of ancient people, and the relics of Icheon dating from the Three Kingdom Period and Koryeo Dynasty that are displayed in the exhibition hall helped me understand Icheon better.

From the relics excavated around Seolbong Fortress, people thought the fortress was built during the time of the Koguryo Kingdom, but later they discovered that construction of the fortress started during the time of the Baekje Kingdom. Ceramics used for cooking and storing food were once grave goods buried with a deceased person as religious symbols. Relics of roof tiles imprinted with characters, pit dwellings, and relics from the Anheung temple site (where 125 relic traces were excavated) were on display.

There was also a corner for respected figures of Icheon including General Seo Hui, the foremost diplomatic strategist of the Koryeo Dynasty, and those who received monument signboards, white certificates, red certificates, and more from kings praising their work. The history of Icheon was well presented in the Icheon Municipal Museum. When all is said and done about ancient Icheon, ceramics are one of the most important features.

With the spirit passed down through a millennium of ceramic history, Icheon still leads ceramic culture in Korea. Ranging from the traditional Cheongja of the Koryeo Dynasty to Buncheong pottery of the Joseon Dynasty, to Baekja, a culmination of pure beauty of the Joseon Dynasty, and to modern pottery, ceramics have long been treasured by people from all walks of life for both artistic and practical reasons.

Ceramics are an art form created with the pure spirit of a potter, clean water, good earth, and fire. How can I assess the incredible efforts of potters to create exemplary ceramics?

I do believe Icheon ceramics, the best in Korea, stand comparison with the best in the world. Here at the Icheon Municipal Museum, you can enjoy beautiful ceramic pieces made by renowned ceramics masters of Icheon and Korea.

It was an elegant late autumn getaway for me. Seolbong Park in Icheon seems to be an especially ideal place for couples under the sun. If you want to learn more about the history, culture, and ceramics of Icheon, come to the Icheon Municipal Museum.

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