Anyang Museum

The city of Anyang is named after a temple. Anyang Museum stands on the site of Anyangsa, a Goryeo-era monastery, inside a former pharmaceutical factory designed in 1959 by the architect Kim Chung-up. By the entrance stand two stone pillars erected in 827, the only flagpole supports in Korea that record the year they were made. A Silla temple site, a Goryeo temple site and a 1950s factory overlap on one plot, so this small city museum packs in a surprising amount.

History: a factory on a temple site, a museum in a factory

Tradition says Anyangsa was founded by the monk Neungjeong at the wish of Wang Geon, the founder of the Goryeo dynasty. "Anyang" is a Buddhist term for the Pure Land, a paradise where body and mind can rest. With royal support the temple grew, adding a seven-storey brick pagoda, and early Joseon geographies still list it as a major monastery. It seems to have closed after the 17th century, and its exact location was forgotten.

In 1959 the Yuyu Industrial Anyang factory was built here. It is an early work by Kim Chung-up, a first-generation modern Korean architect best known for the French Embassy in Seoul, and it blends sculptural forms into industrial buildings. After the factory closed, the city bought the land in 2007. Four rounds of excavation between 2008 and 2011 turned up roof tiles stamped with the name "Anyangsa", the base of the seven-storey pagoda and the foundations of the main hall, finally pinning down the temple's location. The site was listed as a Gyeonggi-do Monument in April 2023.

The museum itself began in September 2004 as the Anyang History Hall in Pyeongchon Art Hall. It moved here and reopened on 28 September 2017, and in 2019 it was upgraded to a first-class specialised museum. The factory's workshop now houses Anyang Museum, the research building next door is the Kim Chung-up Architecture Museum, and the old boiler house, with its chimney, has become the education centre.

What to see

• Flagpole supports of the Jungchosa Temple Site (Treasure): two stone pillars that once held the pole for a temple banner on festival days. They still stand in their original position, 85 cm apart on an east–west line, each pierced with holes at three heights to secure the pole. The outer face of the west pillar carries an inscription of 123 characters in six lines: the stone was chosen on the 6th day of the 8th month of 826 and the work finished on the 30th day of the 2nd month of 827, under King Heungdeok of Silla. The broken top of the east pillar is said to be the work of local stonemasons who tried to cart it off after liberation in 1945.
• Three-storey stone pagoda: a Goryeo pagoda beside the pillars. It has a single-tier base and, with the bodies of the second and third storeys missing, only roof stones stacked on top, which gives it a slightly top-heavy look. It was moved here in 1960, when the factory was built and this spot became its entrance.
• Permanent gallery (2nd floor): Anyang's story from the prehistoric site at Gwanyang-dong through the flagpole supports and the inscribed Anyangsa tiles to the modern city. 3D films bring back the rock-carved bell at Seoksu-dong and the lost seven-storey pagoda of Anyangsa.
• The factory itself: red brick buildings with white bands, the chimney behind the museum and the old guardhouse show 1950s industrial architecture alongside the relics.

Jungchosa or Anyangsa?

The site was long known as Jungchosa because that is the temple name carved on the pillars. Excavation then revealed tiles and a pagoda base from Goryeo's Anyangsa in the same place, so the site is now understood to have held Silla's Jungchosa and then Goryeo's Anyangsa in turn. Today the plot is valued as a layering of a Silla temple, a Goryeo temple and modern industrial heritage. Look out for the date "the 30th day of the 2nd month": in the lunar calendar some months had 30 days.

Tripto tips

• Opening hours: 09:30–18:00 (last entry 17:00). Closed Mondays (the following day if Monday is a public holiday), and on 1 January, Seollal and Chuseok.
• Admission: the permanent exhibition is free; only special exhibitions announced as paid need a ticket.
• Guided tours: commentary on the permanent exhibition runs three times a day and is booked online up to 7 days ahead. Groups of 20 or more must book in advance.
• Time needed: about 1 hour for the museum and the outdoor relics, 1.5–2 hours with the Kim Chung-up Architecture Museum.
• Getting there: from Gwanak Station (Seoul Subway Line 1), Exit 2, it is about a 25-minute walk (1.2 km), or take bus 5713, 5625, 5626, 5530 or 1 to the Anyang Art Park stop. From Anyang Station (Line 1), Exit 1, village bus 2 stops at Kim Chung-up Architecture Museum.
• Parking: the museum has no car park of its own; use the paid Anyang Art Park public car park nearby.
• Combine with: Anyang Art Park starts just above the museum along the Samseongcheon stream, so a walk there fits naturally. There is a café on the ground floor and a restaurant on the 3rd floor.