Museum Week- Tteok Museum, Mok in Museum, Bukchon Museum, Gahoe Minwha Museum, Lock Museum

May 20^th through 26^this Museum week in Seoul.   Many museums in Korea offer free admission.  During this week, however, museums that normally charge an entrance fee (and are participating in the program) are free for the general public.  In addition to free admission, each museum has a “mission.”  Computers are set up at each location.  If you register with your e-mail address and a password you can answer a question or “complete a mission” at each museum.  The questions are based on exhibits in each museum.  Once you have completed the mission by answering the question correctly you can take your picture and immediately receive a printed copy of the image as a souvenir.  In addition to this, each museum is offering a souvenir if you show them your photograph.  If you visit five or more museums, and correctly complete five missions you are entered to win the week’s grand price- your own photo printer.        ( The contest is only in Korea)

I met a new friend and several travelers to enjoy a day of museum hopping together.  Our group was made up of a Korean, American (me), a couple from Amsterdam and a guy from Ukraine, currently residing in Belfast. Once again, a very international group.   The majority of the museums that we would focus on for the day were located in Jongno-gu.  Most museums in Seoul open at 10:00 a.m. and remain open until 5 or
6:00 p.m. Tto begin our day, we met at 9:00 a.m. and enjoyed a cup of tea near our first museum.  

            Our first museum was the Tteok Museum run by the institute of Korean food.  The museum has over 50 kinds of rice cakes, from eight provinces of Korea, on display. In addition to this, there are displays of traditional Korea first birthday party celebrations, royal dining place settings and traditional Korean weddings.  The museum consists of two floors.

            The museum we visited in Insa-dong was the Mok in museum.  This museum is comprised of traditional Chinese and Korean funeral statues.  There are over 2,000 on display.  Currently on display is the Chinese wooden human statue exhibit entitled “I pray, I pray.”  The museum offers complimentary drinks such as green tea and coffee and has a beautiful roof deck to enjoy them on.

The museum we visited in Bukchon was called the “Bukchon Museum.”  Here we got to enter a traditional hanok home where over 120 antiques used in the Bukchon area and 20 relics are on display.   Currently there is a special exhibition for children called “Let’s play fun, dear society.”  Note: You must remove your shoes prior to entering the museum.

Our next museum was also in a traditional  hanok house.  Gahoe Minwha Museum is comprised of old folk paintings.   Folk paintings are from the Joseon Dynasty.  There are two rooms comprised of 1,500 artifacts, 250 folk paintings, 750 amulets and 150 classic books.   Classes and demonstrations are  offered here where you can view and create folk art.

Note:  You must remove your shoes prior to entering the museum.

After exploring these four museums and some great neighborhoods we took a quick break for lunch. My friend (and tour guide)  showed us a great traditional Korean restaurant to eat at for lunch.  There was only one thing offered on the menu, which was noodle soup with clams, mussels and shrimp served with kimchi along side.  You could choose between young and old kimchi.  I preferred the younger kimchi.  The lunch cost around $4.50 and you could have as many helpings as you would like.  One huge bowl was more then enough for me.  You entered the restaurant by walking directly through the kitchen and sat down in a very modest environment.  From my seat I could watch two women cutting huge cabbages for kimchi and several men preparing dough and using a noodle maker to prepare noodles for the soup fresh, from scratch.  I enjoyed the restaurant and left feeling satisfied and stuffed!

The national Folk Musem of Korea is a beautiful museum housed in a modern structure.  Outside you can view traditional hanok house replicas and many traditional statues.  Inside there is a large variety of exhibitions that show insight into Korean history.  Many of the exhibits are only offered in Korean but you can rent an audio guide in English, Japanese and Chinese at the entrance for $1.00.

            The Lock Museum was my favorite museum of the day.  The museum displays a man’s private collection and consists of over 5,000 beautifully showcased locks.   The owner of the museum was working during our visit and gave us a wonderful tour of the facility.   Each lock has a description in both Korean and English.  Many of the locks contain a QR code where you can access additional information when taking a photo from a smart phone or wireless device.  The owner also showed us his private collection consisting of thousands of additional locks and others he collected, that are in storage, to be placed on display in future exhibitions.