Boom town district south of Han River

The Hanseong Baekje Cultural Festival will be held on September 21~24 at the World Peace Gate Plaza of Olympic Park and its vicinity in Seoul hosted by Songpa-gu Office, under the theme of ‘Capital of Two Thousand Years Ago, Songpa! Meet the King of Hanseong Baekje!’.
As a festival that reproduces the history and culture of the Hanseong period (18B.C.-A.D. 475) of Baekje Kingdom, which was founded 2,000 years ago, the Hanseong Baekje Cultural Festival has been held annually since 1994 in Songpa-gu, the capital city of early Baekje Kingdom. The global festival has been named the representative ‘culture and tourism festival’ for the fourth consecutive year by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Gala parade of the 2016 Hanseong Baekje Cultural Festival _

“With active participation by students and citizens from across the country, the Hanseong Baekje Cultural Festival has been evolving into an incrementally significant event as a global festival,” said Park Choon-hee, Mayor of Songpa-gu. “We are proud that excellence of the Festival, which marks its 17th event this year, is recognized in and out of the country by receiving the gold award in Pinnacle Awards from the International Festivals and Events Association (IFEA), called the ‘Oscars in festival’, for the fourth consecutive year.”
Audience will enjoy a variety of programs of the Festival, including the flame fountain of Baekje, parade of royal carriage of King Geunchogo, performance of huge dragon, and lighting of lamps of Baekje along road, starting with the ceremony of lighting the flame of soul of Hanseong Baekje. In the ancient village of early Hanseong Baekje period, visitors can experience daily life of people in those days at elevated houses and thatch-roofed dugouts. They also can travel into the past while looking around the village, wearing traditional clothes in ancient time.
As the only history and culture festival in Korea, Hanseong Baekje Cultural Festival will provide diverse special programs for foreign tourists. They include unique bamboo horse race, threshing tool play, Songpa Mask Dance Drama and marketplace of Baekje traditional foods. Foreign tourists show satisfaction in these traditional activities and foods.
And the reproduced ‘Saruhasigoyo’, a pedestrian bridge built by an engineer named Jiraho in around 600 A.D., was highly favored by foreign visitors when it was first introduced during the last year’s Festival. It demonstrated world-level bridge construction technology of Baekje Kingdom.
In addition to these, the Festival will offer many other exciting programs, including the popular opera arias festival, musical gala show, concerts, sociability folk play, children’s song contest, photo contest, fireworks display, and more.

저작권자 © The Korea Post 무단전재 및 재배포 금지