Sohn Kee-chung's Ancient Greek Bronze Helmet
손기정 기증 고대 그리스 청동 투구
A Corinthian bronze helmet meant as the prize for the 1936 Berlin Olympic marathon, which reached the winner, Sohn Kee-chung, only fifty years later.
01About
This Corinthian bronze helmet was found at Olympia in Greece and later bought by an Athens newspaper as a prize for the winner of the Berlin Olympic marathon. Sohn Kee-chung, running for Japan at the time, won, but the IOC held that so valuable a gift to an athlete would break its amateur rules, and the helmet stayed in a Berlin museum for fifty years until it was presented to Sohn in 1986. He later donated it to the National Museum of Korea, and it was designated Korea's Treasure No. 904, the only Western object among the Treasures.
02In the gallery
Look at the helmet's shape, with openings left only for the eyes and mouth and pieces guarding the nose and cheeks, and imagine how much you could see wearing it.
Wall label terms in Korean
- 코린트식 투구
- Corinthian helmet
- 보물
- Treasure (national designation)
03Notes
Sohn Kee-chung's helmet was an ancient Greek warrior's, and it took fifty years to reach his hands.
How did an ancient warrior's helmet become a prize for a modern athlete?