Gyeonggi Provincial Museum

Gyeonggi Provincial Museum, in Sanggal-dong, Giheung-gu, Yongin, tells the story of Gyeonggi Province from prehistory to the modern era under one roof. Its strength is donated material from the province's old clans, such as portraits of Joseon scholar-officials, clothing recovered from tombs and epitaph tablets, and admission is free. It shares a site with the Nam June Paik Art Center and the Gyeonggi Children's Museum and is close to the Korean Folk Village, which makes for an easy day out.

History: from a local archive to a provincial museum

The museum opened on 21 June 1996. Donations began earlier, in 1986, when it was still the Gyeonggi Local History Archive, and close ties with clans across the province have kept the collection growing. The building went up between February 1993 and November 1995 and has one basement level and three floors above ground. The permanent galleries were redesigned in August 2020, and the museum marked its 30th anniversary in 2026.

The galleries

• Prehistory and Ancient Gallery (1F): Gyeonggi's history from the Palaeolithic to Unified Silla, including finds such as a small portable mortar from the Hanseong Baekje period excavated at Sogeunsanseong Fortress in Hwaseong.
• Donation Gallery (1F): titled "Amamwangwang (巖巖汪汪): Cliffs Ten Thousand Feet High, a Sea of a Thousand Furrows", it uses the museum's best-known donations (portraits, clothing and epitaph tablets) to show how Gyeonggi's scholar-officials lived and thought.
• Immersive Media Room (1F): an immersive video, "An Invitation to a Gyeonggi Scholar-Officials' Banquet".
• Goryeo and Joseon Gallery (2F): under the theme "Gyeonggi, the Root of the Nation", it covers the history, arts and folk life of the region in the Goryeo and Joseon eras, with Goryeo celadon and a series of scholar-official portraits. The theme comes from a saying attributed to King Jungjong of Joseon when appointing a governor of Gyeonggi: the province is to the nation what roots are to a tree and a spring to water.
• Modern History Gallery (2F): a timeline and photographs tracing Gyeonggi's modernisation after the opening of Korea's ports.

Well-known paintings in the collection include the portraits of Song Si-yeol and Jo Yeong-bok, a chaekgado bookshelf screen, Kim Deuk-sin's "Drunken Immortal" and a folding screen of a royal banquet. Not everything is on permanent display, so check before you go if you want to see a particular work.

Outdoor exhibition

The park around the museum holds stone monuments from across Gyeonggi, either moved here or reproduced: a dolmen, the Sanbon-dong tombs from Gunpo, the stupa of Godalsa Temple Site, the twin-lion stone lantern of Hoeamsa Temple Site, flagpole supports, a standing stone, civil-official statues and village guardian posts. With a water mill, a millstone, an octagonal pavilion, a wisteria shelter and a maple path, it is a pleasant loop after the galleries.

Tripto tips

• Hours: 10:00–18:00 (last entry 17:20). Closed on Mondays, 1 January and on the days of Seollal and Chuseok; if a Monday is a public holiday the museum opens and closes on the next weekday instead. Admission is free.
• Guided tours: about 50 minutes at 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00; just meet at the information desk, no booking needed. Group tours take priority, so individual tours may be reduced.
• Special exhibitions: the 30th-anniversary donation exhibition "Too Good to Keep to Myself" runs until 7 March 2027, and the archive exhibition "Shining Moments: 30 Years of Gyeonggi Provincial Museum" until 1 March 2027.
• Time needed: 1–1.5 hours for the permanent galleries, about 2 hours with the special exhibitions and the outdoor park.
• Getting there: Sanggal Station, Exit 4, on the Suin-Bundang Line, then a 10-minute walk. From Gangnam Station in Seoul, buses 5001-1 and 1560 stop in front of the museum.
• Parking: the car park is shared with the Nam June Paik Art Center and the Children's Museum; cars pay KRW 1,000 for the first hour, then KRW 200 per 10 minutes, up to KRW 8,000 a day.
• Good to know: food and pets (other than guide dogs) are not allowed, and flash and tripod photography are prohibited.