The National Folk Museum of Korea is situated in the center of Seoul with the goal of becoming an educational venue where visitors can learn how Koreans lived from the past to present. The National Folk Museum of Korea investigates, researches, and acquires artifacts and various resources about the daily lives of Koreans in the past and present.

The National Folk Museum of Korea is a member of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea, which is responsible for the collection, preservation, research, research, exhibition, education, and exchange of lifestyles, customs and tools used in Korea and the world. It opened on October 30, 1992 and is located at 37, Samcheong-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

Overview
The National Folk Museum of Korea is a museum that represents daily life and culture of Korea and is visited by more than two million people every year. We provide educational and cultural opportunities to better understand and experience the traditional Korean lifestyle. Since its establishment in 1946, the National Museum of Anthropology has primarily investigated and researched Korean folk culture, while having has acquired, preserved, and exhibited Korean folk cultural artifacts. Over the years, we have held permanent and special exhibitions, published reports, while also having conducted lectures and other public education programs. Now, in keeping with the paradigm for museums in the 21st century that require them to be more responsive to the public and take an open and specialized approach, we are striving to expand our visitor base and reach out to visitors more effectively.

The National Folk Museum of Korea will continually build a creative, cultural space that promotes mutual communication and understanding with the world through the execution of our fundamental roles in the integration of culture with technology (Culture Technology), education with entertainment (Edutainment), global culture with local culture (Globalism), and the natural environment with the museum (Eco-Museum). In order for us to accomplish the visions above, we will be pursuing a wide range of tasks, including theme-oriented exhibitions, the establishment of a museum network to promote cross-cultural understanding and cooperation throughout the world, the transformation of the museum into a lifelong learning place featuring creative research, exhibitions, and education, and an establishment of an information center to preserve and pass down the traditional, modern, and contemporary lifestyles of Koreans.

History
The museum was established on 8 November 1945 by the U.S. Government and opened on 25 April 1946 at the City Administration Memorial Hall. When the museum was merged with National Museum of Korea, its collection of 4,555 artifacts was moved to the latter’s Mt Namsan site. In 1975, when the National Museum moved onto the grounds of Gyeongbokgung Palace, it moved along with it into the Modern Art Museum Building. In 1993 it opened in its present site, which was the former site of the National Museum of Korea. The building’s design is based on various historical buildings around South Korea.

Exhibition
The Museum operates three permanent exhibition halls and an open-air exhibition hall, including an exhibition hall dedicated to the history of daily life and culture of the Korean people, an exhibition hall about the Korean Way of Life and an exhibition hall for the life cycle of Koreans. Additionally, special exhibitions are held at least four times a year to further broaden the understanding of Korean folkways.

Permanent Exhibition

Exhibition Hall 1 (Korean Life History)
It restores and displays materials on prehistoric life tools, Bronze Age, Three Kingdoms life and culture, Goryeo’s printing and celadon culture, and Joseon’s science, technology and Hangeul creation.

Exhibition Hall 2 (Life, Crafts, and Ceremony)
You can look at folklore, livelihoods, handicrafts, clothing, food and living

Exhibition Hall 3 (Lifetime of Koreans)
Birth and death, education, customs and weddings, transportation and communication
Traditional play and social system, folk beliefs, rites and rites

Outdoor exhibition
Four seasons garden, bean hut, spinning wheel, smoker, treadmill
Moon / Unmanned Stone, Dolharbang, Jangseung Garden

There are also models of Silla’s Anapji, Hwangryongsa 9-story pagoda, and Gyeongbokgung Palace. Around the museum, there are exhibits of General Cheon Ha Dae, General Geo Hae, General Stone Dolphin, and Yeonja Mill.

Special Exhibition
Selected theme by year, held 3-4 times a year

Donation exhibition
There is a permanent exhibition space in the third exhibition room of the Folk Museum. Among the donated artifacts, the theme is selected and four to five small donation artifact exhibitions are held each year. In addition, special exhibitions, specially designed donation exhibitions, are held to honor the high will of donors who are willing to bring their own collections into the property of the people.

International exchange exhibition
The International Exchange Exhibition is an exhibition to spread the image of Korea abroad in keeping with the era of internationalization. For example, Arirang’s round trip was held at the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, and exhibitions such as Daejanggeum Beijing Outing were held at the Korean Cultural Center in Beijing.

Collection
The National Folk Museum of Korea is dedicated to acquiring and preserving artifacts and information on the traditional ways of life, which are rapidly disappearing due to modernization and urbanization. The materials acquired through purchases, donations, or temporary loans are systematically consolidated in accordance with criteria for the categorization of folklore materials after having been scientifically processed and treated. Various research projects are conducted to acquire photographs, films, and videos of the sites of various folk events. Moreover, the museum systematically organizes and accumulates specialized ethnologic literatures and a wide range of multimedia folklore materials in the Folk Archives to allow for easier access.

The museum has three main exhibition halls, with over 98,000 artifacts: History of Korean People features materials of everyday life in Korea from prehistoric times to the end of the Joseon Dynasty in 1910; Korean Way of Life, which illustrates Korean villagers in ancient times; and Life Cycle of the Koreans, which depicts the deep roots of Confucianism in Korean culture and how this ideology gave rise to most of the culture’s customs.

The museum also features open-air exhibits, such as replicas of spirit posts where villagers used to pray, stone piles for worship, grinding mills, rice storage shelters and pits for kimchi pots.

Research
The Museum conducts investigative research on the traditional daily life and cultures of Korea including seasonal customs, local religions, and regional festivals that have been passed down to the present, while also publishing a wide range of reports on the findings of the research. Recently, the museum also began to record the practices of contemporary living that are endangered due to rapid urbanization and local development.

International Exchange
The National Folk Museum of Korea has been assisting renowned museums overseas to establish Korean cultural galleries and Korean galleries in overseas cultural centers in order for the people of the world to experience Korean culture in various locations of the world since the year 2000. The museum is also actively pursuing a cultural partnership project, which is a training program for specialists from foreign museums, and an international exchange project such as an international exchange seminar for experts and academics.

Public Education
The National Folk Museum of Korea offers a variety of educational programs for adults, and multicultural and socially alienated groups. Moreover, traditional folk performances are held on an on-going basis to offer opportunities for visitors to experience the traditional arts of Korea.

Children’s Museum
The National Folk Museum of Korea also operates the Children’s Museum, with exhibitions centered on actually touching and playing with traditional Korean folk life exhibits. The Children’s Museum also collects, preserves, and manages artifacts and materials related to children. The Museum encourages children to take interest to better understand and to further advance Korean history and culture rather than just playing the role of a repository for cultural relics related to children.

Events
The National Folk Museum of Korea holds a performance of our folk yard every weekend for domestic and foreign visitors to the museum.

Saturday permanent performance: Every Saturday from January to December 3:00 pm Sunday Open Folk Stage: Open in spring and autumn (April to June, September to October) Every Sunday at 2 pm