Cheonggyecheon Museum

On the bank of the Cheonggyecheon in Majang-dong, Seongdong District, this branch of the Seoul Museum of History tells the story of the stream: from the Joseon-era "Gaecheon" through shanty towns, a covered road and an elevated highway, to its return as an open waterway. Admission is free, and the shanty-house theme zone across the road is worth adding to your visit.

Opened with the restoration

The Cheonggyecheon restoration ran for two years and three months, from July 2003 to September 2005. The museum opened as the restoration was finishing, on 26 September 2005, under the name Cheonggyecheon Cultural Centre, and is now run by the Seoul Museum of History as the Cheonggyecheon Museum. The long glass building is meant to evoke the blue line of the stream. Visitors ride an outdoor escalator up to the 4th floor and then walk down a gentle ramp through the exhibition without any stairs. The permanent galleries were redesigned in 2015.

The permanent exhibition in five zones

• Prologue, Seoul and Cheonggyecheon: the story begins with the stream that flowed here long before Hanyang became the Joseon capital.
• The Gaecheon era: in Joseon times the stream was called Gaecheon. Detailed models show workers widening the channel and dredging the silt from its bed.
• Cheonggyecheon and Cheonggye-ro: after liberation and the Korean War, shacks crowded the banks; later the stream was covered over by a road and then an elevated highway.
• The "restoration" project: documents and films on the 2003–2005 works.
• After the "restoration": how central Seoul changed once the water returned. Notice that the museum puts the word "restoration" in quotation marks in its zone titles.

The shanty-house theme zone

Across from the museum, the facades of 1960s and 1970s shacks that once lined the stream have been recreated. For years the interior showed an old classroom, a tea room, a comic-book shop and a coal-briquette store; since September 2022 the exteriors have stayed as they were while the inside has become a rest and exhibition space on the nature and wildlife of the Cheonggyecheon. It helps you picture at full size the shanty town you saw in the museum's photos and models.

Tripto tips

• Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 09:00–18:00 (last entry 17:30). Closed on Mondays and 1 January.
• Tickets: free.
• Guided tours: Korean-language tours start at 10:00 and 15:00 from Tuesday to Sunday at the entrance to the 4th-floor gallery and take about 40 minutes.
• Time needed: about an hour for the permanent exhibition and the shanty-house zone.
• Getting there: the address is 530 Cheonggyecheon-ro. From Exit 5 of Yongdu Station (Line 2) walk about 10 minutes towards the stream. There is a lift inside, and the ramps make the museum easy with a pushchair or wheelchair.
• Combine it with: follow the stream path to Gyeongdong Market and the Dongmyo flea market nearby, or on a fine day walk slowly along the water towards the city centre.