National Museum of Korea

• Address: 137, Seobinggo-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
• Phone: 02-2077-9000
• Site: museum.go.kr/site/main/home
• Opening hours: Mon-Fri from 10:00 to 18:00; Wed and Sat from 10:00 to 21:00; Sun from 10:00 to 19:00

The National Museum of Korea is considered to be the largest in Asia, it occupies an area of ​​137,200 m, and in height reaches 43 m. This is one of the main attractions of Seoul, it is included in the world's 20 most popular museums. Altogether, about 220,000 exhibits are collected here, but only 13,000 can be seen. The rest are sometimes shown at special exhibitions, but in the rest of the time they are only available to specialists. In addition to permanent and temporary exhibitions, the museum conducts educational programs for children and adults, and considers the educational direction of its activities to be a priority. To date, the institution has been visited by a total of more than 20 million people, if counted from the moment of his move to the new building.

It all started in 1909, when Sujon, the Emperor of Korea, decided to open a collection of Changgyeonggung Palace for his subjects. Subsequently, he was joined by a collection of the Japanese Museum, which was available during the Japanese occupation. All these artifacts were saved during the war, for this they were taken to the city ​​of Busan , and in 1945 they returned to their rightful place in Seoul . At that moment, Korea gained independence and organized its own national museum, in which these collections are located. This year is considered the date of the foundation of the museum.

Initially, for the museum were allocated the territory of the Gyeongbokgung and Toksugun palaces, after which he moved several times. The final place was a new building, built in Yongsan Park. The modern building is ready for any natural disasters, it is made of refractory concrete and is seismically stable: earthquakes of up to 6 points are not terrible for it. The exterior reminds of traditional Korean buildings and at the same time is an indicative modern construction. The museum was again opened to the public in 2005.

Collection of the National Museum of Korea

The entire exposition of the museum was decided to be divided into two parts: the left is directed to the past, and the right one is to the future. In this case, the collections are distributed over the floors:

1. The first is the ancient period of history. If you are interested in findings from the Paleolithic and later, then these halls will be very interesting. Ceramics, tools, decorations of houses and household items of people of that period are exhibited here.
2. The second and third floors represent art. On the second you will find calligraphy, the history of Korean hieroglyphs, the ancient alphabet Hangul, paintings.
3. On the third floor you can admire the sculptures and learn more about the traditional crafts of Koreans and other peoples of Asia.

In addition, on the ground floor in the large hall is a real stone pagoda in full growth, it was built in the era of Korah for the monastery of Kenchons. Now it occupies the height of all three floors of the museum.

What else can you see at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul?

In addition to the main expositions, the museum hosts performances of the national theater Yon. In front of the building you can admire the play of the dancing bridge of rainbow fountains , and for small visitors there are separate expositions presented in the children's museum.

After the inspection, you can relax in cafes or restaurants on the territory, as well as buy a variety of souvenirs to remember about visiting the museum.

How to get to the National Museum of Korea?

You can reach the museum by car, taxi or public transport , which you will not have problems in Seoul. So, by metro you can get to Ichhon station, which is located on the 4th line of Könichunanson. By bus No. 502 and 400, you can reach the Yongsan Recreation Park, which houses the National Museum of Korea.