As part of the Three Kingdoms Cultural Exchange Exhibition hosted by the National Buyeo Museum, TRIC developed a digital restoration project titled "Temple Layouts of the Three Kingdoms."
The project digitally restored three representative Buddhist temple sites from each kingdom: Hwangnyongsa Temple Site in Gyeongju (Silla), Jeongnimsa Temple Site in Buyeo (Baekje), and Cheongam-ri Temple Site in Pyongyang (Goguryeo). While digital restorations of the Silla and Baekje temples have been conducted before, this marked the first and only digital reconstruction of a Goguryeo temple within South Korea.
This restoration holds special significance as an example of North Korean cultural heritage being digitally revived, alongside rare cases like Manwoldae, the royal palace site of the Goryeo Dynasty in Kaesong. We hope this effort paves the way for more opportunities to digitally preserve North Korean heritage, especially as inter-Korean relations improve in the future.
The final content was presented as a tightly edited 3-minute video. It contrasts drone footage of the present-day temple ruins with their digitally restored versions, allowing viewers to compare the architectural layouts of temples from each of the Three Kingdoms at a glance. The video was screened at the National Buyeo Museum throughout the duration of the special exhibition.
