Deokpojin Museum of Education

Deokpojin Museum of Education is a private museum in Daegot-myeon, Gimpo, beside the old Deokpojin fort facing Ganghwa Island. It was opened in 1996 by Kim Dong-seon and Lee In-suk, a married couple who were both primary school teachers, using teaching materials they had collected over a lifetime. It is best known for its recreated 1950s classroom, "Year 3, Class 2", where visitors learn children's songs to the sound of an old pump organ. For parents it brings back memories; for children it is a first look at a school from another age.

A museum built to get back to teaching

In her forties Lee In-suk lost her sight in a traffic accident and had to give up teaching. To give his deeply discouraged wife a classroom again, Kim Dong-seon sold their apartment in Seoul and put in his savings to build the museum. Textbooks and school supplies the couple had collected, along with the pump organ Lee played in her lessons, became the core of the collection. It is said to be the only privately run museum among Korea's education museums. Today it also runs hands-on programmes such as "Hakgyo-jong-i Ttaeng-ttaeng-ttaeng" (named after a well-known school song) and a themed exhibition that changes every year.

Three floors of school life

• Year 3, Class 2: a recreated 1950s classroom on the ground floor, with wooden desks and chairs, a blackboard and a stove, where the couple have long held lessons with organ accompaniment and old textbooks. The same floor has a student-life room and displays on English and maths.
• Education archive: upstairs, old school items such as a 1960 science textbook, nickel-silver lunch boxes and cloth book wrappers, along with a recreated Joseon-era village school (seodang) and a multicultural activity room.
• Character education and traditional culture halls: a music display of pump organs and old instruments, plus exhibits on farming life and traditional culture.

Combine it with Deokpojin

About 200 m from the museum, Deokpojin is a Joseon-era military post that guarded the Ganghwa Strait and was designated a Historic Site in 1981. Its batteries fought the French fleet in 1866 and the American fleet in 1871. An excavation in 1980 uncovered seven cannonballs and Sangpyeong Tongbo coins, and you can still see the gun emplacements facing the water and the site of the guardhouse where the fire for the cannons was kept. Across the strait are Deokjinjin and Gwangseongbo on Ganghwa Island. Deokjinjin is only a little over 1 km away as the crow flies, but by car you have to go round via the nearby Chojidaegyo Bridge.

Tripto tips

• Time needed: an hour in the museum, about 2 hours with a walk around Deokpojin.
• Opening: generally 10:00–18:00 from March to November and 10:00–17:00 from December to February, closed on Mondays (or the next day if Monday is a public holiday). Admission varies by age and is listed differently in different places, so check with the museum (031-989-8580) before you go.
• Classroom lessons: the old-style lessons have been run by the founders themselves, so schedules can change. Book group programmes in advance on the museum website.
• Getting there: about 8 km west of Gurae Station on the Gimpo Goldline, so a taxi or car is easiest.
• Combine it with: the Peace Nuri-gil Route 1 along the Yeomha River fence starts close by for a riverside walk.