Sudoguksan Museum of Housing and Living, Incheon, South Korea

5justpassingthru2013 5:00 PM Apr 2, 2017

Hidden treasure
Though it is a steep walk uphill to get to this museum, you will be glad you made the trek. As ultramodern apartment complexes have replaced single story dwellings in Seoul, some bit of the old culture and community has been lost. This museum has successfully recreated the nostalgic feel of mid to late 20th century Seoul. Museum goers walk through an indoor version of alleyways, jammed with authetic and replicated housing, stores, and products from yesteryear. A pleasure for kids and adults.

4scotthumphries 5:00 PM Apr 9, 2017

Interesting small museum worth the uphill walk
A prior reviewer rightly described this museum as a hidden treasure and, I agree. It is a bit off the beaten track. You need to walk down a long, seemingly characterless road from Incheon subway station until you get to a park, and then it is quite a challenging uphill walk through the park (seeing the sprightly elderly people walking up and down the paths seemingly without effort will motivate you, but it also helps to bring a packed lunch as we did - then you can picnic as you enjoy the impressive views from the top), and then almost at the summit the museum itself is hidden in what seems like a toilet block. However, once you get in there it is worthwhile. South Korea had a fairly recent and rapid increase in its standard of living from the 1970s and '80s. The focus on this museum is the living and housing arrangements in the postwar years of the '60s and early to mid '70s. Whilst there is not a lot of stuff in English, there is enough and the most impressive part of the exhibition is a fascinating and detailed life-sized re-creation of what we westerners would call a slum. You can walk through the homes, the shops, the school. One interesting aspect of this museum compared to other, similar places I have seen elsewhere is that it is not just a reminder to current generations of the relatively recent poverty that South Koreans lived in, but it also celebrates the positive aspects of 'slum' life: the community spirit, the friendships and support networks, even the art and literature. This is where some more English translation would be helpful, but it is not A wonderful contextual insight to the South Korean economic miracle.