Culture 2023.8.6.
An astronomical chart "Honchonjondo", one of the Korean nation’s precious cultural heritages, has been registered to the memory of the World Register by UNESCO.
The 216th Conference of the Executive Board of UNESCO, held in France on May 18, decided to register the astronomical chart "Honchonjondo" to the memory of the World Register.
This is the second registration. The national classic "Mu Ye Do Bo Tong Ji" (the comprehensive illustrated manual of Korean marital arts) was for the first time registered to the memory of the World Register by UNESCO in October Juche 106 (2017).
"Honchonjondo" is a precious astronomical heritage showing the astronomical development of Korea in the 18th century, which carried forward the traditional astronomical charts such as star pictures carved on the flat stone of a dolmen in ancient times, the Chonsangryolchabunyajido (astronomical chart in 1395) made on the basis of a rubbed copy of "astronomical chart carved on a stone" in the period of Koguryo (B.C. 277 - A.D. 668) and the "Chonmunryucho" made under the rule of King Sejong in the Feudal Joson Dynasty (early in the 1400s).
The word "Honchonjondo" means "a general picture of the whole sky."
The astronomical chart is a piece of paper depicting the stars in the then nocturnal sky and records astronomical phenomena, their explanations and astronomical constants.
In the center of the "Honchonjondo", there is a picture showing the stars in the nocturnal sky in a circle of 57.6 cm in diameter. On its upper part are an illustrated data on the sun, the moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury under the headline "Chiljongjuchondo" and "Ilwolgyosikdo" showing the twenty-four seasons in the lunar calendar, the rising and setting moments of the sun and solar and lunar eclipses.
On the lower part are the list of stars that transited the meridian at twilight and dawn of the twenty-four seasons in the lunar calendar, the structure of the solar system based on the geocentric theory, the change of the moon’s appearance and the structure of a new solar system, accompanied by pictures.
The "Honchonjondo" is a precious astronomical heritage showing the development of astronomy in Korea and a national treasure that enriches the treasure house of the Eastern astronomy.
This astronomical heritage is now preserved at the Grand People’s Study House.
Rodong Sinmun