The plan for my first Saturday in Seoul was to visit the War Memorial of Korea, but when I woke up Saturday morning it was raining. I knew that a large part of the Memorial was outside I quickly changed my plans and headed to the National Museum of Korea.
To get to the museum I had to take the metro. I got a map of the metro system from my roommate and directions on how to get to the closest metro station. Armed with only "Stay on the bus for about 20 minutes and get off at the first stop after the hairpin turn and the metro station is behind the buildings, through the alley," I got on a bus for the first time in Seoul. I took the 20 minute ride to Gireum station and exited at the first stop after what was a 270 degree turn. I felt moderately confident that I was at the right stop since most of the passengers were getting off. I then followed the throng of people through a street/parking lot and thankfully into the metro station.
The Seoul Metro system is massive and is used over 8 million times a day. The curious thing about the metro is that the fare depends on the distance traveled. Once I gave up trying to use the automated ticket machines in order to save what dignity I had left, I asked a teller for assistance. I finally got my ticket after he tried to send me Incheon (back to the airport) when I wanted to go to Ichon . Once I got on the metro there were no problems. All the station names are given in Hangul and English so navigating the system is just as easy as in Berlin, Vienna, Paris...
The national museum is a sprawling complex with a giant building surrounded by gardens. Since it was raining, I restricted my visit to the exhibition hall. The National Museum is similar to our Museum of Civilizations both and the building is fitting of such comparisons. The photo here shows the huge courtyard that divides the complex in two. To the right you have the grand hall (large circular room with the glass wall) and the permanent exhibitions and to the left you have the special exhibitions, the children's museum, gift shop, library and so on. The Museum of Civilizations is a great museum but it is dwarfed by the National Museum, through no fault of its own. The fact is that Canada only has around 400 years of recorded history. The Koreans have thousands. The exhibits seemed to flow without end, from period to period, kingdom to kingdom, age to age. I'll spare you the detailed visit but there were a few highlights.
The neolithic and paleolithic exhibits were very
interesting and featured your standard tools, arrow heads and pottery. Once exhibit really caught my eye. I believe the title of the display was archeohumurous hoaxorius. What you see is a pile of flatish, roundish stones and the description marks them as having been used as net sinkers (click on the photo to enlarge). This is hard to swallow, the ones on the left maybe, but the pile on the right? Really? I wonder how they figured that one out...
"Damn it Frank! You lost the vase?"
"Take it easy George we'll figure this out."
"Take it easy? Are you trying to tell me that we camped out in the mountains for 3 months, nearly got shot by those Nazis, boiled to death by natives, not to mention this rash that hasn't gone away yet-"
"Put that away man, my daughter is on her way up."
"-and to think that the exhibit opens tomorrow. Tomorrow! You now that the board is just aching to punt us out of this museum as it is. If we don't fill that display case with something..."
"I said don't worry about it, I'll come up with something."
"You can't just sweet talk yourself out of this one Frank, this isn't Bangkok. This time-"
"Hi Daddy."
"Hi sweety. George cover that thing up. How was your day at school honey?"
"Good. I picked you a bouquet of rocks for your collection daddy."
"Oh thanks sweetheart. Wow, did you just pick the flattest and roundest rocks?"
"Mmhhm."
"Thank you so much. You know what sweety? I think I know a very special place for these rocks."
"Frank? I know that look. Frank? You wouldn't dare..."
Of course the world wouldn't be what it is today without its most important people. Materials Engineers. Fittingly, most of the museum* was dedicated to metallurgy and materials. The first of such exhibits was a collection of bronze casts from the early bronze age. Watch the instructional video for more information .
To get to the museum I had to take the metro. I got a map of the metro system from my roommate and directions on how to get to the closest metro station. Armed with only "Stay on the bus for about 20 minutes and get off at the first stop after the hairpin turn and the metro station is behind the buildings, through the alley," I got on a bus for the first time in Seoul. I took the 20 minute ride to Gireum station and exited at the first stop after what was a 270 degree turn. I felt moderately confident that I was at the right stop since most of the passengers were getting off. I then followed the throng of people through a street/parking lot and thankfully into the metro station.
The Seoul Metro system is massive and is used over 8 million times a day. The curious thing about the metro is that the fare depends on the distance traveled. Once I gave up trying to use the automated ticket machines in order to save what dignity I had left, I asked a teller for assistance. I finally got my ticket after he tried to send me Incheon (back to the airport) when I wanted to go to Ichon . Once I got on the metro there were no problems. All the station names are given in Hangul and English so navigating the system is just as easy as in Berlin, Vienna, Paris...
The national museum is a sprawling complex with a giant building surrounded by gardens. Since it was raining, I restricted my visit to the exhibition hall. The National Museum is similar to our Museum of Civilizations both and the building is fitting of such comparisons. The photo here shows the huge courtyard that divides the complex in two. To the right you have the grand hall (large circular room with the glass wall) and the permanent exhibitions and to the left you have the special exhibitions, the children's museum, gift shop, library and so on. The Museum of Civilizations is a great museum but it is dwarfed by the National Museum, through no fault of its own. The fact is that Canada only has around 400 years of recorded history. The Koreans have thousands. The exhibits seemed to flow without end, from period to period, kingdom to kingdom, age to age. I'll spare you the detailed visit but there were a few highlights.
The neolithic and paleolithic exhibits were very
interesting and featured your standard tools, arrow heads and pottery. Once exhibit really caught my eye. I believe the title of the display was archeohumurous hoaxorius. What you see is a pile of flatish, roundish stones and the description marks them as having been used as net sinkers (click on the photo to enlarge). This is hard to swallow, the ones on the left maybe, but the pile on the right? Really? I wonder how they figured that one out..."Damn it Frank! You lost the vase?"
"Take it easy George we'll figure this out."
"Take it easy? Are you trying to tell me that we camped out in the mountains for 3 months, nearly got shot by those Nazis, boiled to death by natives, not to mention this rash that hasn't gone away yet-"
"Put that away man, my daughter is on her way up."
"-and to think that the exhibit opens tomorrow. Tomorrow! You now that the board is just aching to punt us out of this museum as it is. If we don't fill that display case with something..."
"I said don't worry about it, I'll come up with something."
"You can't just sweet talk yourself out of this one Frank, this isn't Bangkok. This time-"
"Hi Daddy."
"Hi sweety. George cover that thing up. How was your day at school honey?"
"Good. I picked you a bouquet of rocks for your collection daddy."
"Oh thanks sweetheart. Wow, did you just pick the flattest and roundest rocks?"
"Mmhhm."
"Thank you so much. You know what sweety? I think I know a very special place for these rocks."
"Frank? I know that look. Frank? You wouldn't dare..."
Of course the world wouldn't be what it is today without its most important people. Materials Engineers. Fittingly, most of the museum* was dedicated to metallurgy and materials. The first of such exhibits was a collection of bronze casts from the early bronze age. Watch the instructional video for more information .
That's about it for me. If you want to see more of my pictures from the Museum you can see the whole album here.
*maybe a dozen items
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