Jeongdongjin Time Museum

In Hourglass Park on the beach at Jeongdongjin, Gangneung, a black steam locomotive stands at the head of a row of brightly painted carriages. The Jeongdongjin Time Museum has filled this train with a single theme, time: carriage by carriage you follow its history from sundials to atomic clocks and gilded European court clocks. It is a good indoor stop after watching the sunrise at Jeongdongjin, one of Korea's best-known sunrise spots.

A museum made from a train

The museum opened on 9 January 2013, built from a steam locomotive and seven passenger carriages, and bills itself as the first museum in Korea created from a steam train. The Jeongdongjin sundial was unveiled in front of it at the same time. Jeongdongjin means "the ferry landing due east" of Gwanghwamun in Seoul, and with crowds coming for the sunrise, it suits the museum's idea of time as a moment of departure, of resolution and of promises.

A different story in every carriage

• Steam locomotive: the museum's figurehead, sometimes used for special performances.
• Story of Time: sundials, water clocks, incense clocks and hourglasses, showing how people learned to measure time and how timekeeping tools developed.
• Time and Science: the scientific quest for accuracy, from pendulum and quartz clocks to atomic clocks, and Einstein's ideas about time.
• Time and Art: gilt, brass and porcelain clocks from Germany, France, Austria and elsewhere. Ornate mantel clocks decorated with carriages and figures stand out.
• Time and Memories: wooden and skeleton clocks, plus a special Titanic exhibit.
• Time and Passion / Time Together: clock works by contemporary makers, a small gallery and photo spots.
• Rooftop observation deck: climb above the last carriage to a sea-view deck with the Bell of Wishes, looking out over the water at Jeongdongjin.

Hourglass Park and the sundial

The museum stands in Hourglass Park, on the shore south of Jeongdongjin Station. The park's emblem, a giant hourglass, is designed so that its sand runs for a whole year, and it is turned over once at midnight on New Year's Day. Look also at the Jeongdongjin sundial in front of the museum. The museum invites visitors to make a wish at true noon, when the sun is highest and the sundial's shadow lines up with it, and at Jeongdongjin that moment shifts by a few minutes from day to day. It is a neat way to see that the noon on your watch and the noon of the sun are not the same thing.

Tripto tips

• Time needed: about 1 hour to walk through the carriages.
• Opening hours: 09:00–18:00; last entry 17:30 in summer (May–October) and 17:00 in winter (November–April).
• Admission: adults KRW 9,000, secondary-school students KRW 6,000, children KRW 5,000, seniors, disabled visitors and national merit recipients KRW 4,500. Groups of 20 or more get 20% off. Prices can change, so call ahead (+82-33-645-4540).
• Getting there: from Jeongdongjin Station it is a little over 10 minutes' walk south to Hourglass Park. KTX-Eum trains run from Seoul Station to Jeongdongjin a few times a day. Drivers can use the free car park at 3-11 Heonhwa-ro, Gangdong-myeon.
• Suggested route: watch the sunrise on Jeongdongjin beach early in the morning, then visit the museum and Hourglass Park and continue along the coastal Heonhwa-ro road.