By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter

The original shape of a pair of golden shoes from the Paekche Kingdom era was digitally reconstructed using the latest medical technology.

Yoo Hong-jun, director of the Cultural Heritage Administration, and Sung Sang-chul, director of Seoul National University Hospital, held a news conference yesterday at the hospital in Chongro, Seoul, introducing the results of their research.

The shoes, excavated last April from a group of tombs in Kongju, South Chungchong Province, were scanned using Computer Topography (CT) technology and a three-dimensional image of what the original shoes would have looked like was constructed.

It is the first time CT scans have been used to reconstruct Korean relics.

``Before, with X-ray, we were only able to see the relics as a flat image, but now with this three-dimensional digital analysis, we are able to visualize an item as it would look in a museum after the conservation work is completed,’’ an administration official said.

The shoes were found with small toe and heel bones inside, but because they were covered by thick mud and rocks, it was impossible to see their original shape with the naked eye.

The technology was also used to reconstruct the foot bones of the owner of the shoes, which are estimated to be from the 4th or 5th century. A golden hat, also from the tombs, was also scanned.

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