repost from my IG, but I wanted to post it here too.

August 15 is the National Liberation Day of Korea when the oppresive Japanese colonial rule of 35 years ended. This is someone who helped preserve traditional culture until today! Jon Hyeongpil was born from a wealthy family, and because of this realised he had the means to save historical Korean relics and artworks. Collecting expensive art were common hobbies for rich families, but he would exclusively buy Korean ones to protect them from the Japanese crackdown on the Korean language (it was not allowed to be used). From his hundreds of collections the 13th century Goryeo celadon vase (now a national treasure) and the original Hunminjeongeum (original texts from when the new written Korean alphabet was created by King Sejong,15th century) were most prized. It wasn't easy to manage all these but long story short, even in economical difficulties he never sold any of them and opened a museum after the end of colonization-and again after the Korean War. I found this figure important because most often if you destroy a culture's art you essentially kinda delete their history and pride, and some cultures are only remembered by their artworks left behind. He helped preventing the Japanese from removing cultural properties and protected them. Today the Gansong Art Museum is one of the most visited because of the top rated antiques it houses.