For Joseon People, Maps Were 'Worldviews'... A Hidden World in Lines and Symbols

Onyang Folk Museum’s 48th Anniversary Exhibition: "Maps: Ways of Seeing the World"


Previously Unseen Artifacts Including "Asan Samdo Sugun Haebang Chongdo" on Display Until October 24

A map is never just a drawing of roads. When you look at which mountains are drawn prominently, which villages are named, and what symbols are left behind, you glimpse the way people of that era divided and understood the world.

Woodblock print 'Gapsanseonyeongdo' engraved with the ancestral home and surrounding terrain of a family. It selectively depicts mountains, rivers, villages, and graveyards, demonstrating how a family remembers and records spaces and places. Onyang Folk Museum

The Onyang Folk Museum is holding a special exhibition, "Maps: Ways of Seeing the World," to mark its 48th anniversary, focusing on how people of the Joseon era perceived space through old maps. The exhibition, which opened on September 18, 2026, will run until October 24, 2026. More than 30 maps and related artifacts, including some never before exhibited, are on display. Rather than simply appreciating the map as a finished image, the exhibition emphasizes how to "read" information encoded in lines, symbols, scale, and orientation.

One notable artifact is the "Asan Samdo Sugun Haebang Chongdo." This eight-panel folding screen, created in the 19th century, depicts the naval deployment and coastal defense systems of the Chungcheong, Jeolla, and Gyeongsang provinces. It distinguishes beacon mounds, naval and military camps, and fortresses with different symbols, and records the number of ships and troops by county, the amount of military provisions, and the distance to the naval camps. While it may look like a landscape painting on the surface, a closer examination reveals it as a kind of “data map” condensing the Joseon Dynasty’s military intelligence and administrative structure. It was designated as a Tangible Cultural Heritage of Chungcheongnam-do Province in 2020.

Another world is found in the "Gapsan Seonyeongdo," a woodblock print engraved with the burial grounds of the Jinju Kang clan and the wider Jinju area in Hapcheon, Gyeongsangnam-do. It records family tombs along with such place names as Yongdeok Mountain, Hwang River, and Daeam, and while the direction of the Jinju Kang clan's tombs is marked in detail, other families’ tombs are simply depicted as circles. Rather than being an objective topographic map, it is closer to a record of the space as remembered and distinguished by a single family. What is depicted prominently and what is omitted on a map directly reflects the perspective of its maker.

The exhibition analyzes this character of maps in four categories. Part 1, "Landscape and Excursion," examines the gaze of people in the past who appreciated nature and traveled through maps depicting mountains, rivers, and famous scenic spots. It introduces not only literal journeys but also the tradition of enjoying imaginary excursions through maps and paintings.

A portable sundial called 'Angbuilgu' made by carving white stone. The hemispherical sundial is engraved with hour lines, solar terms, and directions, allowing the user to check the time, season, and direction simultaneously. Onyang Folk Museum

The key theme of Part 2, "Space and Order," is measurement. It shows how scale bars, proportional scales, distance, and orientation were incorporated into maps and reveals traces of knowledge aimed at not only accurate depiction but also the measurement and systematization of a vast territory.

Part 3, "Information and Language," considers maps as a visual language. Information on administrative districts, relay stations, beacon mounds, and fortresses is condensed into unique symbols of varying shapes, colors, and scripts. Just as modern maps distinguish subway stations, roads, and hospitals with different icons, old maps also followed the grammar of the symbols familiar and shared by people of the time.

The final section, Part 4, "Place and Distinction," examines memories of individuals and communities embedded in maps. The most auspicious locations chosen by geomancy, ancestral burial grounds, and villages inhabited for generations are recorded as part of a family’s history. This reveals how a map could become not only the eye of a nation surveying its land, but also a personal record preserving a family’s roots.

The exhibition also introduces visitors to the scientific spatial perception of people in the past. The portable sundial "Angbuilgu," carved from white marble, is engraved with half-hour marks, 24 directions, the 24 solar terms, and the polar altitude of Hanyang (Seoul). Time, season, direction, and location are all compressed within this small instrument.

Founded in 1978, the Onyang Folk Museum celebrates its 48th anniversary this year. This exhibition goes beyond simply viewing old maps as primitive navigation tools. By following each line and symbol, one sees more than just geographic features—they discover what people once feared, considered beautiful, and believed to be their rightful place on the land.

The exhibition runs until October 24, 2026, at the Onyang Folk Museum in Asan, Chungcheongnam-do. Visitor hours are from 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM, with last admission at 4:30 PM. The museum is closed every Monday (except holidays) and during the Chuseok holiday (September 23–24).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.