The museum structure was designed by architect Park Chung-hee to incorporate the styles of iconic Korean cultural properties like the Beopjusa Palsangjeon wooden pagoda.
The outdoor 'Street of the Past' recreates a 1960s and 70s Korean neighborhood, featuring an authentic vintage pharmacy, barbershop, and comic book store.
The collection includes the 'Chilsung-pan,' a traditional wooden board used during funerals, illustrating the depth of the museum's coverage of life rituals.
The museum conducts extensive fieldwork and research on vanishing folk traditions, including regional shamanistic rituals.
It holds a significant collection of 'hanbok' and specialized textiles that demonstrate the evolution of Korean status-based fashion.
The National Folk Museum of Korea is the primary institution dedicated to the history of traditional Korean life, located within the Gyeongbokgung Palace grounds. The museum building itself is designed with architectural motifs borrowed from historic Korean temples and pagodas, such as the Bulguksa Temple. It houses over 98,000 artifacts that document the daily lives, seasonal customs, and major life milestones of the Korean people from prehistoric times to the end of the Joseon Dynasty. Three permanent exhibition halls display the History of the Korean People, The Korean Way of Life, and Life Cycles of the Koreans. The museum features an expansive outdoor exhibition area, which includes replicas of traditional village structures, stone carvings, and folk totem poles known as jangseung. It serves as a research hub for Korean folklore and cultural anthropology. The current facility was opened in 1993, replacing a previous version located in the Hyunjun-jeon building.
The outdoor exhibition area, specifically in front of the traditional jangseung (totem poles) or the vintage 1960s-style street.
Combine your visit with Gyeongbokgung Palace to see the museum in its historical context.
Visit the outdoor exhibition area to see the full-scale replicas of traditional homes and historical street scenes.
Check the official website for temporary special exhibitions which rotate frequently throughout the year.
Do not mistake the museum for the neighboring National Palace Museum of Korea, which focuses specifically on royal court artifacts.
Closed on Tuesdays.
Maintain a quiet volume inside exhibition halls and refrain from using flash photography on fragile artifacts.
