The National Museum of Korea is the largest museum in Asia, and one of the largest in the world, attracting over 20 million visitors since it’s reopening in 2005. It is the 9th most visited museum in the world. We were so thoroughly impressed, we wished we would have visited sooner.
National Museum of Korea
Originally established in 1945, it has moved numerous times due to various political events such as World War II, and has resided in Busan, Gyeongbokgung and Deoksugung Palace, Jungangcheong (a former Japanese General Government building), and finally to ultimate location in Yongsan District.
National Museum of Korea Quick Info:
To visit the museum, simply get off at Yongsan Station on Line 1 of the Seoul Metro. From there, it is a 1.5 km walk to the grounds, most of which can be done within the metro station (the signs will direct you).
Hours of Operation
- Closed – Mondays, and New Year’s Day
- Tuesday, Thursday, Friday – Open from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM
- Wednesday, Saturday – 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM
- Sunday and Holidays – 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM
The museum is free, with special exhibits will cost an additional fee. Adjacent to the National Museum of Korea is Hangul Museum (which we unfortunately did not get to see). The underpass leading to the museum from the metro features something called the moving museum which is pretty neat.
Short For Time
When we arrived, we did not have as much time to check out the museum as we hoped for, we were on a schedule and were going to make it the N Seoul Tower for sunset, so we only had about an hour to visit (not nearly enough time). But we were not going to miss out on our chance to see it for lack of time.
The museum is huge, on a large campus with parks, gardens, waterfalls, pagodas, stupas, lanterns, and steles. Due it being a very cold day and our lack of time, we didn’t cover the grounds and headed straight inside.
Three Levels of Exhibition
The museum is divided into 3 floors, left and right, symbolically representing the past and future respectively. The center hall is a huge atrium extending the length of the building, terminating at the Ten-Story Pagoda, a national treasure.
Originally it was built in 1348 at the monastery of Gyeongcheonsa. In 1907, Japanese officials illegally smuggled it to Japan, but US and British officials returned it in 1918. It was restored to Gyeongbukgung palace in 1960, but due to acid rain damage was ultimately relocated to the museum in 1995 for preservation.
The Early History of Korea
The first floor covers prehistory and ancient history galleries. Here you will see artifacts and learn about the advancements of the Korean people from Paleolithic times through the unification of Silla – right before the Joseon Dynasty.
As well, you see the Medieval and Early Modern History galleries on this floor. Ancient weapons, artifacts, and royal ornaments present themselves throughout the eight galleries on floor 1.
We didn’t have time budgeted to see the entirety of floor 1, but it’s so interesting, we couldn’t stop ourselves. Our decision was to go ahead and see the entire floor before leaving the museum.
We Will Be Back
But, there are still two other floors to check out. We really hope to come back and check them out. We had tried to plan to come back before we left, but ran out of time. Floor 2 contains the Donation Gallery and the Calligraphy and Painting Gallery.
The donation gallery is a collection of works from various private collections, divided into 11 rooms, holding 800 pieces. The Calligraphy and Painting Gallery, is divided into 4 rooms containing 890 pieces of color and line paintings depicting: Paintings, Calligraphy, Buddhist Paintings, and Scholar’s Work.
Floor 3 contains the Sculpture and Crafts Gallery as well as the Asian Arts Gallery. The Sculpture and Crafts Gallery contains 630 pieces of Korean Buddhist art. The Asian Arts Gallery contains:
- 970 pieces
- Divided into sections covering – Indian and Southeast Asian art, Central Asian art, Chinese art, Japanese art
- A room covering the Silk Road – and the differences between Eastern and Western art and how they mixed and changed through trade.
There is also a special exhibit area for which there is a fee. It features different things at different times.
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Comments
Oh. Love all your Korea posts as they are getting me excited about my trip. I hope I have enough time to see everything.
We’re glad 🙂 There is never enough time to see everything hehe but you will enjoy it there. When do you do go? Let us know if you have any questions.
I’ll be there at the end of the month. Worried about cold weather. Any suggestions for three days in Seoul?
We have been thinking about making a post along these lines, maybe we will do it sometime before you leave :). I think some of the top things to do are: at least one of the palaces: Gyeongbokgung or Changdeokgung, a cute cafe of some sort (like the hello kitty, poop, etc.) or cute food like the ice cream we got in Myeongdong, Korea has lots of cutsey stuff (unless you are not into that), something with a good view of the city: Seoul Tower has a good view and you can also hike there via Seoul City Wall (though we did not do this as we did a different part of the wall which was nice and is also an option for you), or Ansan Trail. A lot of people talk about Itaewon but we did not think it was too special, same with Gangnam (though we did miss out on going to the Samsung D’light which is allegedly neat there). I liked the area of Insadong which is close to some of the palaces so you could combine that. The National Museum was pretty neat as well. Seoul really has a lot to offer: nature, food, technology, history, etc. Ultimately it depends on the types of things you are into.
Yes a blog with recs would be welcome. ?
Oh I forgot to mention that a jimjilbang would be a good cold weather activity!
I love all the ideas. Have started writing it all down. Now to figure out which to do first and how to get there. ?
The public transportation system/metro can be confusing at first but eventually becomes quite simple, and it can be easy to manage if you get the app for it (we did not). So if you are able to get data there, I would recommend that to make getting around easier. Typically I would look at the destinations near a metro station. Some things maybe be closed one random day so that may help you in coming up with a plan. There are a number of things within walking distance of each other. So, for example, if you wanted to do the palaces, you could get off at a station near them, do Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung (also near Jognymo Shrine) and then head over to Insadong which is nearby before maybe catching the metro to somewhere to enjoy the nightlife if you are into that. There is a really big club and bar scene, though we mostly just drank at home though haha. We really like the flavored soju which you can get at any 7/11 and just drink on the streets if you feel like haha
Another great tip. Mahalo! I’ll go look for the metro app and play with it.
I like the idea of trying soju in comfort of my room, too. Just in case i react funny. I liked that post too. Looking forward to trying the flavored ones.
Yes, that is a good idea 🙂 It is tasty so it is easy to drink a lot
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