The Kokdu Museum in Seoul will be promoting Korea’s traditional wooden figurine culture overseas with a touring exhibition across Europe, the museum announced Tuesday.

Collections of various kkokdu from the museum will be on display in Germany, Hungary, Belgium and France starting Thursday until April of next year.

The Kokdu Museum is dedicated to the time-honored funeral rituals of kkokdu, which are small figurines carved from pine wood that were traditionally used during funeral practices during the Joseon period. These wooden figurines not only decorated funeral biers, but were also thought to console the spirit of the deceased.

The small figures were there to influence not only the dead, but also the living by providing one with the opportunity to contemplate the meaning of life, death and the universe, and offering solace to the mourners making the figurines or those carrying the bier.

The Kokdu Museum’s temporary international exhibitions of 76 kkokdu relics will span approximately seven months with the first opening to be held at the Grassi Museum in Leipzig, Germany, from Thursday to Nov. 17 before moving on to the Korean Culture Center in Budapest, Hungary, and the Korean Culture Center in Brussels, Belgium, before concluding the European exhibition tour at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)