Geological Museum

Run by the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) inside the Daedeok research district, this is Korea's specialist museum of geology. In a single hall you will find an armoured Edmontonia chased by a Tyrannosaurus, a Maiasaura reconstructed from a real skeleton and a 7 m globe of the ocean floor, and the museum displays more than 5,000 minerals, rocks and fossils, all free of charge. On a family trip to Daejeon it pairs easily with the National Science Museum for a full day.

Specimens collected since 1918

KIGAM began life in 1918 as a geological survey office. Specimens gathered over more than a century of fieldwork were first shown to the public in a specimen hall opened in 1992 for the Daejeon Expo, and as visitor numbers grew the present museum opened on 9 November 2001, with about 2,500 m² of exhibition space. The building's outline was inspired by the bony plates on a Stegosaurus's back. An annexe stores specimens and drill cores for researchers.

What to see, hall by hall

• Main hall: Edmontonia in its bony armour with a Tyrannosaurus in pursuit, a Stegosaurus skeleton laid out as if freshly excavated, and dinosaur eggs. Spanning the first and second floors, the 7 m globe, the largest of its kind in Korea, models the seabed around the Korean Peninsula in fine detail.
• Exhibition Hall 1: a model of the Earth's interior and films on continental drift introduce the planet, while stromatolites, traces of life some 3.5 billion years old, and trilobites tell the story of evolution.
• Exhibition Hall 2: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, folds and faults, and minerals and uncut gemstones, including rare mantle xenoliths brought up from deep inside the Earth.
• Geologic Time Street: completed in May 2015, Korea's first walk through geological time. Korean rocks are laid into the path in order of age, from metamorphic rock some 2.5 billion years old to Cenozoic basalt, so you can follow the peninsula's history on foot.
• Discovery Room and Science Room: piece together dinosaur bones on motion-sensing screens or study thin sections of rock under a microscope. These rooms open at weekends only.

Tripto tips

• Hours: 10:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30). Closed on Mondays, 1 January, the Seollal and Chuseok holidays, Labour Day, the institute's foundation day, and the day after any public holiday on which the museum opened. There is also a temporary closure on 7 November 2026.
• Tickets: admission and parking are both free. Groups of 20 or more must book on the website.
• Activity rooms: the Discovery Room and Science Room open only on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, 10:00–12:00 and 13:00–16:00; on weekdays they are closed.
• Time needed: an hour for the galleries, 1½–2 hours with the activity rooms and the outdoor time street.
• Getting there: from Daejeon Station take Daejeon Metro Line 1 to Government Complex Station, then bus 604 from the Dunsan Police Station stop to "Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources". The trip takes a little over 40 minutes.
• Combine it with: the National Science Museum is about 1.4 km away, an easy pairing for a day out.