Nine new museums in Seoul by 2023

Last Sunday*, Seoul announced nine new museums for the 3 years to come, after inaugurating five others over the past three years. As this map shows, downtown's dominance in cultural sites shall grow even stronger, but a few underserved neighborhoods will get their fair share:

The 5 museums inaugurated between 2017 and 2019 (NB this list doesn't count infrastructures that are not managed by the city, like the Seoul HOUR opened last year**:

• 2017: PAIK Nam June Memorial Museum (Changsin-dong, Jongno-gu)
  
• 2018: Donuimun Museum Village (Sinmunno 2-ga, Jongno-gu)
• 2018: Iumpium Sewing History Museum (Changsin-dong, Jongno-gu)
• 2019: Seoul Urban Life Museum (Gongneung-dong, Nowon-gu)
• 2019: Seoul Museum of Korean Folk Music (Waryong-dong, Jongno-gu)

The 9 museums to be inaugurated by 2023:

• 2020: Seoul Craft Museum (Anguk-dong, Jongno-gu): on the site of the former Pungmun Girls' High School. BTW ICYMI Korean Air is suing Seoul Metropolitan Government for torpedoing their plan to sell their Songheyon-dong site (see "twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/1272327309865828353")
   
• 2021: Hanyangdoseong Ruins Exhibition Hall / Hanyang City Wall Relics (Hoehyeon-dong, Jung-gu). To replace the Seoul City Wall Museum located in Jongno-6-ga. Of course, 'Hanyang' is more relevant as the original name of Seoul intra muros (within Sadaemun).
   
• 2021: Pyeongchang-dong Art and Culture Complex (Pyeongchang-dong, Jongno-gu): a hub for Pyeongchang-dong's Community Art Platform, on Pyeongchangdongmunhwa-ro, with a focus on contemporary art of course.  
• 2022: Korean Food Culture Complex (Seongbuk-dong, Seongbuk-gu) on a redesigned and partly repurposed Samcheonggak.
   
• 2023: Seoul Cultural Resource Center / Integrated Storage (Dugok-ri, Ucheon-myeon, Hoengseong-gun, Gangwon-do): over 44,600 square meters... which speaks volumes about the capital's overflowing cultural assets (350,000 of them shall be stored there).  
• 2023: Robot Science Museum (Chang-dong, Dobong-gu): beyond robots, shall explore A.I., V.R., and other technologies. At last some content for the Chang-dong - Sanggye urban regeneration cluster (see "Diagonal crossings, High Lines, and Business Verticals (how pedestrians and businesses remodel Seoul... and vice-versa)")... but this Seoul village will also host the best new museum to come (see below).
   
• 2023: Pungnap-dong Earthen Fortification Museum (Pungnap-dong, Songpa-gu): 5,500 square meters focused on the old Baekjae castle, and the royal way of life.
   
  
• 2023: Seo-Seoul Museum of Art (Doksan-dong, Geumcheon-gu): not to be confused with SeMA's main site in Seosomun-dong, this branch will reach yet another underserved district after Nam-Seoul (Namhyeon-dong, Gwanak-gu), Buk-Seoul (Junggye-dong, Nowon-gu), or SeMA Storage (Seoul Innovation Park, Nokbeon-dong, Eunpyeong-gu). SeMA also manages the above mentioned Paik Nam June Memorial Museum in Jongno-gu, SeMA Bunker (Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu) SeMA Nanji Residency (Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu).
   
  
• 2023: Seoul Photographic Art Museum (also in Chang-dong, Dobong-gu): not to be confused with the existing private museum of photography in Bangi-dong, Songpa-gu. 2,500 sqm is not very big, but I really hope this will be the museum I've been calling for for years: devoting big sections to my beloved KIM Ki-chan and to the fantastic collections inherited by the Seoul Museum of History, interactive, involving citizen contributions...

Melike Altinisik Architects' winning project for Robot Science Museum

As you can see, quantity doesn't always mean quality, but I'm looking forward to returning to neighborhoods I haven't roamed in a while... and I really can't wait to see that last one. Please, don't disappoint me!

Seoul Village 2020
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* see "사진·한식·로봇…서울시 '테마형 뮤지엄' 9개소 개관" (Seoul Metropolitan Government 20200622)
** see "Seoul Hall of Urbanism and Architecture, Seoul Biennale 2019 Symposium"

Anheung Jjinbbang (Anheung)

It all started outside of the village, quite far beyond the bridge, on road 42 in the direction of Hoengseong : a house facing a vast plain covered with fields.

"Anheung Jjinbbang" opened another shop in front of the Myeon Office (Township), probably to maintain a presence in a "maeul" transformed in Jjinbbang Land : about every other house in Anheung sells steamed buns.

But people are only queuing for the original one, which made the place famous... and I guess the family rich, judging by their parking lot on route 42 and the line at the Myeon Office, like in front of a Village theater in NYC. But the movie marquee keeps advertising the same blockbuster : Route 42, Bun To Be Wild, a.k.a. your classic jjinbbang filled with red bean.

It goes in a few bites and it's only for the pick-up, but Seoulites stay in line for over one hour on Sunday afternoons, on they way back to the Capital.

The staff keeps preparing 6 large plates every 20 mn, each plate the equivalent of 3 boxes tops, because here you buy it by boxes of 20 (KRW 7,000). And one single customer can leave with a 5-storey tower in his arms : two boxes for the family, one for the neighbor, another as a trophy for collegues stuck in the city... and one for the road.

The same guy probably never purchases more than one jjinbbang in a week (heck, more likely than not not more than 3 during a whole year), but nobody seems to complain. This "jjinbbang village" is a touristic attraction and this very place an institution.

I gave up after the 4th one on the way back, but I went that far only because the traffic made the trip last for 4 hours.

Anheung Jjinbbang / 안흥찐빵 (snack)
Anheung-ri, Anheung-myeon, Hoengseong-gun, Gangwon-do, South Korea 225-821
342.4570

Seoul Village 2009

Dunnae Minsokchon (Dunnae)

Don't be deterred by the name and decor of this restaurant : if "Dunnae Folk Village" is abusively covered with traditional and wooden artifacts, their food is the real stuff : not make-believe junk, but simple country food with an intense and unique taste. The kind of meals that deserve a trip if you really love Korean food, and like to discover new / old tastes.

Definitely the perfect stop after a morning in Gangwon-do forests and fields, enjoying their autumn best : even a few hours after eating about one and a half Korean cow (hanu) in every possible ways, I felt positively ravenous.

Still now, one day later, I'm drooling just remembering a few dishes :

- side dishes (banchan / 반찬) featuring mountain herbs (san namul / 산나물)

- Deodeok gui (더덕구이) : grilled deodok. Deodeok (도덕) is a variety of bellflower (codonopsis lanceolata) similar to toraji. Fibers seem softer.

- Taegisan Dodeok Sundae (태기산 더덕순대) : intestine / blood sausage with dodeok from nearby Taegi mountain.

- chondubu (촌두부) : a fantastic "village tofu / dubu" - You can have it with soy sauce or gimchi, but I liked it best as it came : in a very light warm broth, probably plain water with a touch of cereal, giving a slightly smoky flavor.

- namul doenjang jjigae (나물 된장찌게) : since I'm used to the best homemade doenjang, I'm difficult to move for this classic. This one is really ok.

- dondeure namulbab (돈드레 나물밥) : healthy rice and herbs bibim with doenjang sauce

- biji jjigae (비지찌개) : no meat, and an incredible taste. It reminded me of the feeling I have when I savor my favorite rich bread soup in the deep Perigord Noir (the one you finish with red wine before attacking the confit de canard pommes sarladaises... if you still have room left after the foie gras).

- ... I'm probably missing one or two steps there but that's part of the game.

Seoul Village 2009

Dunnae Minsokchon / 돈내 민속촌 (restaurant)
Gangwon-do, Hoengseong-gun, Dunnae-myeon, Dunnae, ROK
From the market, the street along the stream right before the bridge. About half a mile after the school.
Tel : +82.33.342.7807.5949

PS: thank you Mr Bae, from Byeolmuri pension, for the address.