Gunsan Modern History Street

Along Haemang-ro beside Gunsan's inner harbour, bank and customs buildings from a century ago stand side by side. Opened as a treaty port in 1899, Gunsan became the harbour through which rice from the Honam plain was shipped to Japan, and an unusual number of buildings from that era survive here. A museum, two former banks and a warship exhibit are all within a few minutes' walk of each other, so in half a day you can follow Gunsan's modern history in a straight line.

The port where the rice left

Gunsan port was opened in 1899 by the Korean Empire. Foreign settlements grew up around the old customs house, and under Japanese rule it became a port for exporting the rice harvested on the Honam plain to Japan. The floating piers, built during harbour works in 1926–1932 and 1936–1938 so that large ships could berth whatever the tide, still float in the inner harbour today. In 2018 the inner harbour, with its piers, embankments and railway, was registered as national heritage as the "Gunsan Inner Harbour Historical and Cultural Space".

Walking along Haemang-ro

• Gunsan Modern History Museum: the starting point. This local museum focuses on Gunsan's modern and maritime culture, and city-run guided walks with a tourism interpreter start from its entrance. During festivals it sometimes stays open into the evening.
• Gunsan Modern Art Museum (former Gunsan branch of the Eighteenth Bank): built in 1907 as the seventh Korean branch of the Eighteenth Bank of Nagasaki; the "18" refers to the order in which the bank received its licence. Its vault sits in a separate building whose door facing the main hall is a vault door, an unusual arrangement. After liberation it served as an office of the Korea Express company, and it was restored after being registered as heritage in 2008. The main building shows a photo exhibition on colonial exploitation, and the vault building has a vault display and a reconstruction of the Lüshun prison cell where independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun was held.
• Gunsan Modern Architecture Hall (former Gunsan branch of the Bank of Chosen): a two-storey bank designed by the Japanese architect Nakamura Yoshihei; sources give its completion as 1922 or 1923. It appears in Chae Man-sik's novel Turbid River as the bank where Go Tae-su works, and after liberation it housed a branch of Hanil Bank. Restored in 2008, it now displays miniatures of Gunsan's modern buildings, the old bank vault and a floor-screen film of about five minutes. A colonial-era air-raid shelter survives outside.
• Jinpo Maritime Theme Park and the Wibong: the site of the Battle of Jinpo, where Choe Mu-seon used cannon to defeat more than 500 Japanese pirate ships at the end of the Goryeo period. The exhibition is housed in the Wibong, a warship built in the United States in 1945 that took part in Second World War landings and was decommissioned in 2006.
• Former Gunsan Customs House: the red-brick building next to the museum has its own page.

Inland from the harbour, the old town is full of retro shops and cafés, including the long-established Lee Sung Dang bakery. Add the Japanese-style house in Sinheung-dong, Chowon Photo Studio and Dongguksa temple, and you have Gunsan's full "time travel" walk.

Tripto tips

• Opening hours: the museum and nearby exhibition halls open 09:00–18:00 from March to October (last entry 17:30) and 09:00–17:00 from November to February (last entry 16:30). The museum closes on Mondays and 1 January, and most of the nearby halls are also closed on Mondays.
• Admission: a combined ticket for the museum, art museum, architecture hall and the Wibong costs KRW 3,000 for adults. Separately, the museum is KRW 2,000, the art museum and architecture hall KRW 500 each, and the Wibong KRW 1,000. Tickets are valid on the day of issue only.
• Geumgang combined ticket: for KRW 5,000 (adults) you can add the Chae Man-sik Literature Museum, the Gunsan March 1st Movement Centennial Memorial Hall and the Geumgang Future Experience Centre to the four sites above. Gunsan was the first place south of the Han River where the 1919 independence demonstrations broke out.
• Guided walks: tours with a tourism interpreter leave from the museum entrance. Course A (about 2 hours, modern buildings) starts at 10:30 and 14:00; Course B (about 2.5 hours, old-town lanes) at 10:00 and 13:30. Schedules can change, so check with Gunsan City's tourism department.
• Getting there: the street is about 4 km as the crow flies from Gunsan Station, so take a city bus or taxi.
• Time needed: 2–3 hours for the museum, the two banks and the Wibong; half a day if you also walk the old-town lanes.
• When to go: spring and autumn are best for walking. Avoid Mondays, when most of the exhibition halls are closed.