‘Roads of Arabia’ going to South Korea, Seoul to host expo this year

RIYADH: The “Roads of Arabia” exhibition will tour to South Korea where it will be staged at the National Museum in Seoul on May 9 to Aug. 27, said the Korean Embassy in Riyadh.
Youngjae Kim, minister-counselor and spokesman at the Korean Embassy here told Arab News on Wednesday, “the purpose from Korea’s perspective is to introduce Saudi Arabia to the Korean people, and to have them more acquainted with Saudi culture and heritage, which is beautifully showcased at the expo.”
He said the opening ceremony will be held May 8, where Prince Sultan bin Salman, president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) is expected to attend.
Prince Sultan met with a delegation from the Korean National Museum on Tuesday and discussed preparations to host the expo, said the Korean diplomat.
He said the Saudi archaeological and historical relics and masterpieces will be displayed along with large-sized photos of Saudi landscape and natural environment in the background or in the digital screens.
“The landscape reflects every part of the Kingdom including mountains and oasis as well as deserts. It will also show the effect of climate change and the theme of “Green Arabia” for example, with fossils of hippopotamus or alligators which explain that the Arabian peninsula was green field 200 thousands years ago,” Kim underlined.
The other side events at the expo will include Saudi traditional music performance on May 13 at the Plaza of National Museum and Saudi-Korea Handicraft Cooperation exhibition on May 8.
He also said that there was a training program in 2013 between Korean pottery masters and Saudi trainees.
“This year, Saudi potter’s artwork will be exhibited in Seoul,” he said.
Moreover, later this year, the Korean Embassy in Riyadh will host here another handcraft cooperation event, with ultimate purpose of developing Saudi craftwork industry in line with NTP 2020 and VISION 2030.
Notably, the expo has achieved a good reputation among international museums in American and European cities since it was first launched at the Louvre in Paris in 2010. Since then it has been hosted by 10 international museums in Europe and the US and then started tour to the Asian countries with the Chinese capital Beijing in December.