THE FIRST WORD

dancheong
Along the way, restorers made a complete three-dimensional scan of the structure, excavated around the foundation for research, scoured mountains in Gangwon province for pines that could provide the proper wood and searched Buddhist temples for centuries-old paintings with patterns in the Korean ornamental style known as dancheong.

Dancheong means cinnabar (a red stone) and green; traditionally, the pigments were made from clay, copper ore and malachite. Painters (or dancheongjang) paint in a single color, so separate artists are needed for each color in the design.