South Korea Formally Opens ‘Jikji Festival’

by Karen Lydelle Linaja / Sep 03, 2016 09:21 AM EDT

South Korea formally opened the annual celebration of 'Jikji Korea' or Jikji Festival to shed new face of its creative value and gathering scholars and renowned writers around the world.

On Thursday, the yearly celebration of the festival about the world's oldest extant book printed with adjustable metal type was held in the central city of Cheongju, South Korea.

The main venues for the festival are the Cheongju Arts Hall and the Cheongju Early Printing Museum. The theme for this year's celebration is "Jikji, Enlightening the World." The festival runs for eight days and it is considered as an international event this year.

'Jikji' is a Buddhist book based on the teachings of the great Buddhist priest Zen. The full name of the book is "Buljo Jikji Simche Yojeol." It is printed in the Heungdeok Temple in 1337 during the Goryeo Dynasty in South Korea. In 2001, UNESCO announced that Jikji is the world's oldest metal-printed book and it is also included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme.

During the opening ceremony of Jukji Festival, Iber Archives, an institution that preserves documentary heritage and established by Latin American countries in 1999, received the UNESCO Jikji Memory of the World Prize with a prize of US$30,000.

A total of 57 Jikji-related works created by 35 teams of writers and artists from Britain, Canada and nine other countries are featured in the main exhibit of the festival. The works are consists of analogue to digital and media arts that gave the visitors a background of Jikji's historical value.

Ron Arad, a world-renowned industrial designer set up the Jikji Pavilion at Cheongju Arts Hall. Lecturers consists of Jason Merkoski, the leader of Amazon First Kindle, Arad-British scientist Lewis Dartnell and violinist Park Ji-hae also participated in the event.

Furthermore, Johannes Gutenberg's printing press is displayed during the festival with a program that include performances of traditional music and plays and experiencing the ancient printing methods.