Permanent Exhibition Hall 2: A Year in Korea
Mainly nineteenth and twentieth century objects
The second hall follows a traditional farming village through the twelve months of the lunar year, which is the rhythm that shaped Korean life until very recently. It begins in spring with ploughing and the soaking of rice seed, moves through the transplanting and weeding of summer, the harvest and threshing of autumn, and ends with the winter tasks of making kimchi, weaving straw and preparing for the New Year. Along the way come the festivals that punctuated the year: Seollal, the lunar New Year; Daeboreum, the first full moon; Dano in early summer; and Chuseok, the harvest festival, still the biggest holiday in Korea.
The objects are the tools of daily work: wooden ploughs, winnowing baskets, stone mills, rain capes of straw, iron kettles and the great earthenware jars called onggi in which soy sauce, bean paste and kimchi ferment. Small dioramas with clay figures show the communal work behind them. Look for the scene of women in white head cloths rubbing red pepper paste into salted cabbage, the kimjang that whole neighbourhoods still do together in late autumn, and for the display of seasonal foods, from rice cake soup at New Year to half-moon rice cakes at Chuseok. Notice also the farmers' band instruments, the drums and gongs of pungmul, which turned work into festival.
The theme matters because most Koreans lived this life within living memory. In 1960 two thirds of the population still worked the land; today almost everyone lives in cities. The hall was built so that grandparents could show grandchildren the world they grew up in, and if you visit on a weekend you will see exactly that happening. Kimjang culture was inscribed on UNESCO's list of intangible heritage in 2013.
Did You Know? Kimjang, the communal making of winter kimchi shown in the hall, was recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in 2013.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.