One thing I like to do is recommend museums when visiting a country, it is always nice to discover the art and history of the place that is giving us hospitality, so in this article I will tell you about the National Museum of Korea, a MUST visit during your stay in the country.
National Museum of Korea (국립중앙박물관)
This museum located in Yongsan Park in Seoul is the sixth largest museum in the world. Inside there are 220,000 artefacts on display, including 13,000 displayed in permanent exhibitions. Furthermore, it is South Korea’s main art and history museum.
The first museum was founded in 1908 by Emperor Sunjong (last Emperor of Korea) This museum was moved several times over the years, and only found a permanent home in 2005.
The collections
This museum is made up of 3 floors:
- 1°floor: On the first floor we have the archaeological gallery which goes from the Paleolithic to the Silla unification period
- 2°floor: On the second floor we can find an exhibition on Korean religious and traditional art and also a collection of 800 artifacts from other cultures.
- 3°floor: Last, on the third floor there is a gallery that displays Korean artisan objects and Buddhist sculptures, plus you can find many Asian art objects
The really interesting thing is that the museum also continues outside, in fact you can find an exhibition of pagodas, stupas, steles and a garden with local plants.
How to get
To get to the museum, take subway line 4 or the Gyeongui-Joungang line (경의중앙) and get off at Ichon Station (이촌역), exit at Exit 2 and walk for about 150m (5 minutes on foot)
Personal thoughts
I find that this museum is too important not to be visited, as it contains a lot of Korean history and art, you can have a more open and specific vision of how this country was born, and in my opinion it is right to visit it at least once. Even the little ones will be able to have fun and learn many things.
Once the internal visit is finished, you will have an entire park to visit, where you can take a nice walk among nature, and at the same time read some more information on the various finds scattered around the museum.
Museum entry: free
Museum website: National Museum of Korea
*All photos were taken by me
*Source: Wikipedia