South Koreans are known to be proud of their history and culture, and their national history museum demonstrates this quite well. The National Museum of Korea is a massive, imposing building that contrasts with a pleasant artificial lake in front.

The building’s entrance is a huge, conical glass section that leads directly to the exhibits which are on several floors surrounding a large open space in the middle. Like the British Museum in London and China’s national history museum in Beijing, this museum is completely free.

There are lots of Korean artifacts, weaponry, and paintings, and an Asian collection including Chinese, Japanese and South Asian items. The ancient Korean artifacts didn’t impress me too much but what interested me more was picking up Korean history. I learnt from the information on display that until the 7th century AD, there were three Korean kingdoms (Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla) that eventually became a unified entity after Silla, allied with China’s ruling Tang dynasty, conquered the other two kingdoms.

Among the highlights are a 10-story stone pagoda in the central corridor that was built in 1384, ancient pottery figures, and artifacts from India and Japan.

The huge size of the museum and the interior design mean there is lots of open space which is good for moving around, but makes it seem kind of empty. It is a good museum but I would put it behind the national history museums in Tokyo and Beijing.

How to get there: The museum is between Ichon (Line 4 and Jungang lines) and Seobinggo (Jungang line) subway stations.
Note: The museum is closed on Mondays.

Lion pottery figure from the Joseon Period (1392-1897) 
Jar coffins from the Three Kingdoms Period (57 BC to 668 AD). They were found piled with swords, crowns and necklaces, indicating the people were high-ranking officials.

Chinese earthenware horse from the 420-589 AD period