Gifts from Korea featured in Carson City exhibit

The 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea inspired curators at the Nevada State Museum to think about some of the interesting Korean artifacts in the museum’s collections — and how they came to be here.

A selection of those artifacts are on display in the museum’s Nevada Stories Gallery.

The crown jewel of the exhibit is a replica of one of Korea’s national treasures — a golden artifact known as the Silla Crown. The original, excavated in 1921 from a royal tomb in the ancient kingdom of Silla, near modern day Gyeongju in southeastern Korea, is housed in the Gyeongju National Museum.

The museum’s replica came to the state as a “thank you” gift.

In 1973, Nevada was the first state to establish licensing legislation to permit and regulate the practice of traditional Chinese medicine, including the practice of acupuncture and herbal medicine. A year later, the Hospital of Oriental Medicine at Kyung-Hee University, Seoul, Korea honored the Nevada State Board of Oriental Medicine with a reproduction of the Silla Crown. The crown and other gifts were transfered from the Nevada Board of Oriental Medicine to the Nevada State Museum in 1976.

The unique crown is fashioned from 24 karat gold-plated sheets and imitation jade.

The Nevada State Museum is located at 600 N. Carson St. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is $8 for adults, free for museum members and children 17 and younger.

Call 775-687-4810 for more information.