Seongdong-gu, near the Dongmyo Market: in between history and contemporary design, the Cheonggyecheon Museum serves as a reminder of what Seoul looked like before this gigantic renovation project

Cheonggyecheon is now an integral component of Seoul. In spring, people rush to take the prettiest cherry blossom pictures (and maybe avoid the pollution over the stream’s walls). In the summer, they come at night to enjoy Cheonggyecheon’s coolness. Seoulites come down to the stream to decompress after a long day at work, after a good dinner with friends or a lover, hoping that the night wouldn’t end, on a Sunday morning with their families. It is just here, a part of the city and part of their lives.

Sadly, a lot of visitors tend to be ignorant of the stream’s history and of all the manpower behind this gigantic project of rehabilitation.

For more than 20 years now, the Cheonggyecheon Museum has been here to educate all those who are interested to learn more about Seoul’s green artery, the Cheonggyecheon Stream.

Free entry, accessible to wheelchair users, disposing of a braille guide map (in Korean), almost every panel of the permanent exposition with its own link to an explicative video for hearing impaired people (Korean sign language), very good explications in both Korean, English, Japanese and Chinese, lockers, benches to rest and more.

If those are not enough to pique your curiosity, you will certainly be interested in the fact that the Cheonggyecheon Museum disposes of different zones, coinciding with the past, the present and the future of the stream. It does include the history of Korea and how firmly linked it is to Cheonggyecheon. Beside the permanent exhibition, there is an almost constant display on the 1st floor of the special exhibition. The museum also holds various cultural events and educational programs for children (preschoolers and elementary school students). 

Still not enough to convince you to visit the museum? Here’s a little something then: you’ve probably have heard of the stamp book that you can get if you do a tour of the hiking trails/national parks in Korea, but have you heard of the Suwolrea Stamp Tour (스탬프투어 수월래)? This program was actually made to connect 4 different museums in Seoul: Seoul City Wall Museum (한양도성박물관), the Waterworks Museum (수도박물관), the Seoul Sewerage Science Museum (서울하수도과학관) and lastly the Cheonggyecheon Museum (청계천박물관). This tour is quite meaningful, and it’s nice to understand the meaning behind it! If you look at the museum locations on a map, you will note that they form a circle. The stamp tour has been made with the Korean Ganggangsullae dance ritual (강강술래) in mind: you circle the museums like the folk dance! Also, you can receive a small present if you give back your book stamp at one of those 4 locations.

I do hope those few words have convinced you to go visit the Cheonggyecheon Museum! 

Kindly note that the museum is closed on Mondays and on January 1st and that the visiting hours are from 9am to 6pm with the last admission at 5:30pm.

Have fun! 

출처 : 이로운뉴스(https://www.erounews.kr)