Discover verified museums — descriptions, map and practical info.
Museums
서울특별시
At the end of a lane in Seongbuk-dong, a white two-storey building shows through the trees. This is where the Kansong Art Museum began, the first private museum in Korea. At a time when Korean heritage was being shipped abroad under Japane…
Museums
거제시
During the Korean War up to 173,000 prisoners were held on Geoje Island, more people than the island's own population, behind barbed wire. Prisoners even kidnapped the camp commandant. The Historic Park of Geoje POW Camp uses the remains a…
Museums
경주시
If you want to understand Silla before visiting Gyeongju's tombs and temple sites, start here. Gyeongju National Museum holds the largest collection of artefacts from Silla (57 BC–AD 935), a kingdom that lasted almost a thousand years with…
Museums
서울특별시
If a walk through Gyeongbokgung leaves you wondering what the kings actually used, the answer is in the building next door. The National Palace Museum of Korea gathers the treasures of the Joseon royal court and the Korean Empire. It stand…
Museums
광주
In 1975 a fisherman's net off Jeungdo Island in Sinan, South Jeolla, brought up a piece of Chinese porcelain. Underwater excavations began the following year and revealed a large trading ship that sank in 1323, along with tens of thousands…
Museums
김해시
Built of black brick, Gimhae National Museum looks from a distance like a huge block of iron. The dark walls, evoking iron ore and charcoal, are a nod to Gaya, the confederacy known as "the kingdom of iron". The museum opened on 29 July 19…
Museums
나주시
Across the fields of Bannam-myeon in Naju rise great burial mounds of the rulers who held this land during the Three Kingdoms period. Naju National Museum stands close to these Bannam tomb clusters, and it is the place to see the huge jar-…
Museums
대구
Daegu National Museum tells the story of Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province from the Old Stone Age to the Joseon dynasty through objects found in the region. You can see Silla and Gaya metalwork, early Buddhist sculpture from northern Gye…
Museums
서울특별시
The National Folk Museum of Korea stands in the north-east corner of the Gyeongbokgung Palace grounds, on Samcheong-ro in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Instead of royal treasures it shows the everyday objects and customs of ordinary Koreans, so in one…
Museums
부여군
Buyeo, ancient Sabi, was the last capital of the Baekje kingdom, and its national museum gathers the heritage of Sabi-period Baekje and the prehistory of western South Chungcheong. It is home to the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje, co…
Museums
광주
In the middle of downtown Gwangju, on the site of the former South Jeolla Provincial Office where the May 1980 uprising played out, stands a vast cultural complex. The Asia Culture Center (ACC) puts most of its facilities underground under…
Museums
전주시
In Jeonju, ancestral home of the Joseon royal family, Jeonju National Museum tells the story of North Jeolla from prehistory to modern times. It opened on 26 October 1990 and displays around 2,000 of its 40,000-odd objects. Many come with…
Museums
제주시
Jeju was once home to its own kingdom, Tamna. Jeju National Museum is an archaeology and history museum built around the story of this island state, covering Jeju's history and culture from prehistory to the Joseon period. Opened on 15 Jun…
Museums
대전광역시
In Daejeon, the science city that grew up around the Daedeok research district, one of the biggest draws is the National Science Museum. Dinosaur skeletons, an engine from Korea's Nuri rocket and the history of Korean science share one lar…
Museums
서울특별시
The National Museum of Korea is the country's flagship museum of history and art, covering everything from prehistory to the Korean Empire under one roof. Its collection runs to more than 310,000 objects, with about 15,000 on display at an…
Museums
청주시
Cheongju National Museum is worth a look for its building alone. It was designed by Kim Swoo-geun, the architect who shaped modern Korean architecture, and opened on 30 October 1987, its galleries stepping down a wooded valley on the easte…
Museums
춘천시
Step into the darkened gallery and hundreds of small stone faces look back at you. Smiling, sleepy or tilting their heads, these arhat figures are what made Chuncheon National Museum famous across Korea. Opened on 30 October 2002, the muse…
Museums
부산
A large wooden ship with two sails stands in the middle of a gallery. It is a half-size reconstruction of the vessel used by the Tongsinsa, the Joseon-era diplomatic missions to Japan. The National Maritime Museum of Korea on Yeongdo Islan…
Museums
서울특별시
MMCA Seoul is the city-centre branch of Korea's National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, on Samcheong-ro just east of Gyeongbokgung Palace. It is one of four MMCA venues, alongside Gwacheon, Deoksugung and Cheongju, and opened in No…
Museums
고흥군
At the far end of Oenarodo Island in Goheung, South Jeolla, the Naro Space Center Space Science Museum stands beside South Korea's first spaceport. On the same island from which the Naro and Nuri rockets lifted off, you can learn how rocke…
Museums
제주시
Behind the glass sits a computer that looks like a wooden box. It is an Apple I, one of the few that still work. The Nexon Computer Museum, near Halla Arboretum in Jeju City, was opened by the game company Nexon on 27 July 2013. Its big dr…
Museums
세종특별자치시
The Presidential Archives in Eojin-dong, Sejong, is the national body that preserves the records, policy documents and event materials of Korea's presidents. Its Presidential Archives Exhibition Hall puts part of that collection on public…
Museums
서울특별시
On Sejong-daero, on the east side of Gwanghwamun Square, the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History is the national museum of Korea's modern history, from the opening of its ports in the late 19th century to the present day. Maps,…
Museums
서울특별시
Dosan Park, between Apgujeong and Garosu-gil, is named after the independence leader Ahn Chang-ho, known by his pen name Dosan. The park holds the grave he shares with his wife, Helen Lee (Lee Hye-ryeon), and next to it the Dosan Ahn Chang…