While not the most exciting day out we’ve had so far, the National Museum of Korea was definitely worth a visit. Full of lots of old stuff and National Treasures, and other than all the school kids around, nicely devoid of annoying tourists.

We came via train to Ichon station then wandered up to the massive building. School kids were setting up blankets for picnic lunches – glad they were outside while we were in! Admission is free, another great reason to visit! The exhibits start with pre-history – as Joel said: “rocks and stuff”, which was pretty much correct, but rocks made into tools. It was cool to walk through and see the tool-making develop, and then metals came along, the jewellery got fancier, through to the all-out golden crowns.

My favourite area was the Painting and Calligraphy. The portraits of the Kang Clan were very cool – really detailed, realistic faces, but more basic, stylised gowns. The faces were almost like the guy was right in front of you. I didn’t take a photo, but here’s one from the museum. I love the way the mesh part of the hat has been painted!

There was a step-by-step that showed how it was done – charcoal sketch on paper, then traced onto the silk, the back of the silk gets painted (like the block colour of the face), then the details painted on the front side.

To be honest, we skipped the third floor, which was mostly sculpture and Asian art. We wanted some more modern history (like industrial era onward), but this museum is more for arts and culture, you know, the fancy type of museum. All in all though, we enjoyed the visit – a good spot to slow down and take your time.