What cultural life have you enjoyed so far and what cultural life did you begin after entering a college? Maybe a lot of students will answer movie or concert, I assume.
In fact, I would like to recommend a ‘museum’ for those who want to enjoy a more colorful cultural life. Some students might think it’s out of nowhere or it’s just boring. But the idea that a museum is a boring place is an old stereotype. Last year, the Korean government began to operate the museum evaluation and accreditation system for museum’s qualitative improvement. The government encourages museums to attract more visitors by providing incentives run by graded payment methods. In addition, the improvement of the curator system which had been unnecessarily complicated also enhanced the quality of professionalism.
As a result, the quality of Korean museums improves and so does the visitor satisfaction. Celebrating the world museum day on May 18th, Seoul and the museum association in Seoul announced a ‘Seoul museum week’ (May 18th – 24th) and held various events like museum free passes, museum expeditions, and presentations. We decided to dive into the scene and experience it ourselves.
Our reporters, Sung-kyu Lim, So-hyun Kim visited three museums out of twenty four participating ones; Soitdae Museum, Bukchon Museum Old Fragrance, and World Accessory Museum.
*Museum Evaluation and Accreditation System: It is intended for national and public museums as well as private museums applying for the accreditation. An accredited private museum is given privileges, including to be first selected for government-aided projects, to be managed stably
*Improvement of complex curator system: Enhancing professionalism by simplifying the curator grade system.
1. Soitdae Museum (Lock Museun)
We first found the Lock Museum located 5 minutes away from Hye-Hwa station, directly from exit no. 2 through Marronier Park. Soitdae Museum was opened on November 5th 2003, by Hong-Kyu Choi, who had operated a hardware store for 20 years. Soitdae means lock. It opened to inform people of the beauty and scientific superiority of locks. He collected 3000 pieces of locks from Korea and world-wide, and 300 of them are displayed.
In the museum’s gallery, lots of locks are displayed. Unusual shapes of locks, such as fish-shaped one, locks from Tibet and Nepal, and large-sized ones are interesting enough to draw our attention. The lock master craftsman, Kyung-no Lee’s locks and other manufacturing instruments were also exhibited. After the viewing, we answered a quiz and got a prize for that, then moved on to our next stop, Bukchon Museum Old Fragrance.
Location
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Jong-ro gu, Dong-sung dong 187-8, Seoul
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Observation time
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10 am~ 6 pm (Closed on Monday)
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Entrance fee
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Private
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Group (over 20 people)
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Adults
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3000 won
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Adults
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2000 won
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Adolescents
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1500 won
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Adolescents
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1500 won
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Children
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1500 won
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Children
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1000 won
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Children under 6, Those who carry a senior discount card, Disabled person: Free admission
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2. Bukchon Museum Old Fragrance
After Soitdae museum, we leave for Bukchon Museum Old Fragrance by bus no. 109 and a shuttle bus no. 11 in Jong-ro. You should get off at Sam-chung-dong community center, and after walking up an uphill road, you can see Bukchon Museum Old Fragrance. On our way to museum, we also met children walking up with their mothers hand in hand.
Bukchon Museum Old Fragrance is a museum that displays household items from our early modern days. Items that have disappeared due to industrialization, which are provincial, unsophisticated, but affectionate, are exhibited unadorned even without a partition. Viewers can touch all the objects, and even experience some items in use. In this museum, there are 2000 pieces of household items and cultural objects.
Walking up the uphill road with all the grunting and groaning, we found the museum The museum’s exterior was not that different from the ordinary houses in the neighborhood. After going inside with a lot of anticipation and thrill, however, we could find a lot of things that we have seen only on TV and in movies. Typewriter, touch-tone phone, a wooden rice chests, pottery, etc. Everything was so amazing. A child was also fascinated, dialing the old phone again and again. There were also elementary students experiencing the ‘Kong-Gi program,’ a special program that goes through the daily life of Kong-Gi, heroine of a traditional folk tale. Through the program, they can learn our folk items’ names, shapes and usage. It is intended for the lower grade elementary students, from May 1st to September 30th, from 10 am to 5 pm.
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Location
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Jong-ro-gu, Sam-Chung dong 35-177, Seoul
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Observation time
(Open year round)
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March ~ October
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10 am ~ 7 pm
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November ~ February
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11 am ~ 6 pm
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Entrance fee
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Private
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Adults
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5000 won
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Under high school students
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3000 won
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Groups of over 20 people get a 20 percent discount.,If accompanied with parents, under four-year-old children are free. As a case of group observation, you should reserve one week earlier.
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3. World Jewelry Museum
After Bukchon Museum Old Fragrance, we walked to the World Jewelry Museum. After watching the old, plain, affectionate items from the early modern times, we stepped toward another museum with anticipation of something shiny and glittering.
The World Jewelry Museum opened in May, 2004, collecting thousands of pieces of jewelry. The founder is Kang-Won Lee, the wife of a diplomat, who has connections with various pieces of culture and art. Her passion for jewelry made this museum possible. Here, jewelry is on display divided into 10 subjects. Representative exhibits are Columbia’s ancient jewelry, Su-Dan tribe’s ivory jewelry, Ethiopia’s Cross jewelry collection and Chinese Miao’s silver jewelry. In addition, Morocco, Cambodia, Mongolia, Eritrea, India, Belgium’s jewelry is also on display. As photos are not allowed, we have no choice but to enjoy all the beautiful jewelry only with our own eyes. If you are interested, feel and enjoy the beauty in person. In this museum, you can feel diverse cultures’ beauty which is unique but also universal.
Location
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Jong-ro-gu, Hwa-dong 75-3, Seoul
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Observation time
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11 am ~ 5 pm (Closed on Mondays, Tuesdays)
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Entrance fee
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Private
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Adults
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7000 won
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Under high school student
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5000 won
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In case of group observation (over 20 people), adult’s fee can get 2000 won discount.
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As such, we visited 3 museums from among Seoul’s numerous museums. We were able to experience even more fun with amazing events that museums prepared for May 18, the museum day.
Has your stereotype of a boring museum been broken a little? In Seoul, there are so many museums, sufficient enough to attract your interest. If you have put up a wall between you and a museum, I would like to recommend Seoul’s unusual museum tour. Or, just visit any museum that might get your attention. Is your cultural life always full of watching movies, chattering with friends at cafés, or drinking at bars? If you are the one of these kind of people, try to go to a museum this weekend just to ‘hang out’. You will feel artists’ passion for an object, and our ancient’s wisdom and style. If you want, as a college student, your cultural life to be rich and classy, go to a museum. You can experience an unusual joy without any 3D videos or stimulating music. You will feel an echo and beating from deep down in your chest that will last a long time.
*List of 24 participating museums in Seoul Museum Week
Gahoe Museum
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Gyum-Jae Jung-sun Museum
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Modern Design Museum
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Kim Dal-Jin Art Material Museum
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Rice Cake Museum
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Wooden Seal Museum
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Bukchon Museum Old Fragrance
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Samsung Publishing Museum
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Seoul History Museum
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World Jewelry Museum
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Soitdae Museum
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Rest Museum
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Phototypography Museum
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Pottery Folklore Museum
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Yoogeum Wha-dang Museum
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Paper Nation Museum
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Museum of Korea Indigenous Straw and Plant Handicraft
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The Cheonggye Creek Cultural Museum
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Chojun Textile & Quilt Art Museum
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Choonwondang Museum of Korean Medicine
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Korean Contemporary Poetry Museum
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Korean Contemporary Costume Museum
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Museum of Literature of Han Moo-Sook
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Hansung Baek-jae Museum
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