Heojun Museum

This public museum in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, honours Heo Jun, the Joseon court physician who wrote the Donguibogam. It stands in Gayang-dong, where Heo Jun is believed to have been born and raised, and a herb garden reached from its roof grows some 200 plants from his book, with a view over the Han River.

Heo Jun and the Donguibogam

Heo Jun served as royal physician to King Seonjo in the mid-Joseon period. Sources differ on his birth year, giving either 1539 or 1546; he died in 1615. He came from the Yangcheon Heo clan, and the Gayang-dong area around the museum was once part of Yangcheon County.

Work on the Donguibogam, "Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine", began in 1596 on King Seonjo's orders but stopped the following year when Japan invaded again. After the war Heo Jun carried on almost single-handedly and finished it in 1610. The royal medical office printed it in 1613 in 25 volumes. Its five parts cover the inner body, the outer body, diseases, medicinal ingredients, and acupuncture and moxibustion. In 2009 it became the first medical text inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register, and it is a National Treasure of Korea.

Inside the museum

The museum opened on 23 March 2005. The permanent exhibition is built around four themes: Heo Jun's life and work, the significance of the Donguibogam, hands-on traditional medicine, and its links to Korean medicine today. The second-floor gallery follows his life story.

A lot of it is hands-on:

• Herb grinding: grind medicinal ingredients yourself and see how herbal remedies are made.
• Herb displays: compare herbs by smell and appearance and learn what each was used for.
• Health room: try body-composition, age-based fitness and blood-pressure tests.
• Children's room: a playful introduction to how the human body works.

Rooftop herb garden and Guamjeong

After the exhibition, head up to the roof, where a bridge leads onto a small hill covered by the herb garden. Around 200 species recorded in the Donguibogam are planted along three paths named after classic remedies: Sipjeon Daebo-tang, Guseon Wangdo-go and Chongmyeong-hwan. Each plant has a label with the parts used and their effects, so you can finally put a face to familiar names such as ginseng, astragalus, goji and liquorice. The Guamjeong pavilion on the hill looks out over the Han River, and the rooftop garden also displays the Sinhyeong Jangbudo, a diagram of the body and the position of its organs.

Around the museum

The street from Gayang Station to the museum, Heojun-ro, is lined with quotations from the Donguibogam and a large sculpture of the book. Guam Park in front of the museum is named after Heo Jun's pen name, Guam. Nearby Heoga Rock is a cave rock linked to the founding legend of the Yangcheon Heo clan, and local tradition says people hid there during several wars.

Tripto tips

• Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10:00–18:00 (last entry 17:00). Closed on Mondays, 1 January and on Seollal and Chuseok days. Some sources say it closes at 17:00 from November to February and at weekends, so check ahead for winter weekend visits.
• Admission: KRW 1,000 for adults. Free for under-6s, over-65s and visitors with disabilities, and free for everyone on the second and fourth Saturday of each month. A combined ticket with the Gyeomjae Jeong Seon Museum of Art costs KRW 1,300 for adults. Hands-on programmes cost around KRW 3,000–4,000.
• Time needed: 1 to 1.5 hours for the exhibition and herb garden, about 2 hours with a walk to Guam Park and Heoga Rock.
• Getting there: about a 10-minute walk along Heojun Theme Street from Exit 1 of Gayang Station on Seoul Subway Line 9, or about 15 minutes from Exit 3 of Yangcheon Hyanggyo Station. Drivers get 2 hours of free parking.
• Good for: rainy or high-fine-dust days with children. The herb garden is at its best from late spring to autumn, when the plants are in full leaf.