Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Jeju National Museum

A Collector’s Invitation has come to Jeju! This special exhibition showcases about 360 cultural heritage items of different types and time periods, including several National Treasures.
On April 28, 2021, the family of the late Lee Kun-Hee (1942–2020), chairman of the Samsung Group, donated 21,693 pieces of cultural heritage from his private collection to the National Museum of Korea.
We would thus like to invite everyone to the Jeju National Museum to experience the full range of Korea’s rich cultural heritage. This exhibition will provide an extraordinary opportunity for visitors to fully appreciate the taste and acumen of a world-class art collector.

1 Warm Welcome from a Collector
The olle alleys and footpaths of Jeju are open to you. As you enter through the low stone wall, a small tray-table catches your eye. It is a modest setting where you might share a cup of tea. A collector invites you to Jeju, where you are greeted by a folding screen painted with a landscape of deer frolicking around Baengnokdam Lake, and a chest made from the native evergreen oak trees of Jeju.

2 Immersion of a Collector
Collecting is a form of immersion. True collectors become fully immersed in their objects, studying them with their eyes and caressing them with their hands, before storing them deep in their heart, rather than in a storage. Only then does a smile appear on the collector’s face. Now let’s follow the gaze of the collector who was completely absorbed in masterpieces, forgetting time and space.

3 Sincerity of a Collector
Collecting is not merely a matter of accumulating objects. It is also about collecting the human hearts contained within those objects. Sincerity is wholeheartedness, which can only be felt when you tear down the walls surrounding your heart and the hearts of others. The aged treasures shared by the collector will surely touch your heart.

Bidding Farewell
Thank you for accepting your invitation to Jeju. How was your day with a collector in Jeju? We hope that your heart has been touched by the heart of a person who avidly collected and shared cultural heritage.
As you leave the exhibition hall, please take a stroll through the garden. The Dongjaseok Garden is another place where you can feel the heart of the family of the late Chairman Lee Kun-Hee, who wanted to send the stone statues of Jeju back to their birthplace. The harmony between these statues and the summer flowers will warm your heart.