FEATURED BOOK REVIEW

Jeong Han-na, 2020

Pyeongchang Stone Cultural Art Center

Rating: Excellent, one of the best volumes to see the range of unusual and beautiful stones found in peninsular Korean, its islands, and the coastal sea.

Pyeongchang Cultural Center. 290 pages. No ISBN.

This handsome volume is a photo album of the Suseok in the collection of the Pyeongchan Stone Museum located in scenic eastern Gangwon Province in Korea. It is the largest and finest of the different stones museums in this country. This volume beautifully illustrates natural stones from all regions of South Korea in the museum’s collection when it opened to the public in 2020.

The book presents the stones, one per page, in the permanent exhibition hall followed by a smaller section featuring the special exhibits' hall, and ends with a section of other donated stones. Page after page of high quality photographs makes this book a visual delight illustrating one outstanding Suseok display after another. Studying the viewing stones in this book encourages you to reflect on the natural beauty and diversity of unaltered stones created by the forces of nature. In addition, exquisite examples of Korean craftsmanship can be seen in the different ceramic and bronze trays, and carved wood bases holding and orienting the rocks.