The BBC and the British Museum's "History of the World in 100 Objects" series has nearly reached the halfway mark, and this evening included a fascinating description of a Korean roof tile, decorated with a dragon, from the 7th Century AD. The programme explained that this came from the "golden age" of Korean history, when the peninsular was largely unified under the Silla Kingdom. A new capital was built at Kyongju, complete with fantastic tiled roofs - a sign of wealth and sophistication but also much better at preventing fires than traditional thatch. The Kingdom's relationship with the much more powerful China was wary, just as it is today, and the programme noted that as Silla's power base was largely in the South, it is much more revered in South Korea than in the North, which prefers to look elsewhere for inspiration.
The programmes last 15 minutes each are available to download or podcast and are highly recommended. Please let us know if you come across any other interesting objects!
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