Special Exhibition of Gyodong Relics Including National Registered Cultural Heritage 'Suwon Bugukwon' to Be Held

The city of Suwon in Gyeonggi Province is hosting an exhibition where visitors can see the Suwon Gyodong area relics, including the nationally registered cultural heritage site ‘Bugukwon’, all in one place.

On the 6th, Suwon City announced that it will hold a planned exhibition titled ‘Suwon Gyodong Relics: The Story of the Old Bugukwon Excavation’ at the former Bugukwon located at 130 Hyanggyo-ro, Paldal-gu, until June 30th this year.

In this exhibition, Suwon City will display the excavation results of the Suwon Gyodong relics from 2020 to 2021, along with materials that reveal the original form of Bugukwon during the Japanese colonial period.

The nationally registered cultural heritage Bugukwon was a company established in 1915 by Ihara Gorobei (伊原五郞兵衛) and seven others. It supplied and sold seeds and seedlings obtained from the Model Agricultural Promotion Site (勸業模範場) and Jongmyo. It started business in front of Suwon Station, and as profits increased, it built and operated its headquarters building at its current location (130 Hyanggyo-ro, Paldal-gu) in 1923.

Bugukwon, which had a nationwide sales network, operated branches not only at the Suwon main store but also in Myeongdong, Gyeongseong (present-day Seoul), and Nagoya Prefecture in Japan, as well as offices in Nagano Prefecture and other areas in Japan.

Materials published in the 1930s record that Bugukwon had a main building, three warehouses, and greenhouses covering about 300 pyeong (approximately 990㎡), and operated six departments including the seed department, seedling department, agricultural supplies department, and fertilizer department.

Relics Excavated from Part of the Gyodong Area in Suwon

After liberation, Bugukwon was used as ▲ the temporary office for Suwon Court and Prosecutor’s Office (1952?1956), ▲ Suwon City Office of Education (late 1950s?1963), and ▲ the Gyeonggi Province branch office of the Republican Party (1960s?1970s).

From 1981, it was used for a long time as ‘Park Internal Medicine Clinic’, and in the 2000s, it was utilized by Hansol Munhwasa and others, sharing Suwon’s modern history. When the privately owned Bugukwon building faced demolition in 2015 due to development, Suwon City purchased and restored it.

The Suwon Gyodong relics area was investigated from November 2020 to February 2021 based on experts’ opinions that there might be relics related to Bugukwon’s auxiliary facilities within the area during the construction project of a residential-commercial complex building in Gyodong, Paldal-gu, Suwon City.

The investigation uncovered two greenhouses, one warehouse, 26 seedling beds (育苗遺構, places for nurturing seedlings before rice planting), one drainage channel, and 55 pieces of earthenware and pottery, along with two metal items. The findings confirmed the form of auxiliary facilities used for seed and seedling cultivation and sales at Bugukwon during the Japanese colonial period.

A Suwon City official stated, "The greenhouses, seedling beds, and excavated artifacts found at the site are valuable materials that can be used for research on modern Suwon agricultural culture. Through this exhibition, we will preserve the history and value of Bugukwon and share it with the citizens."

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