National Folk Museum of Korea

   The National Folk Museum of Korea, in Seoul, is Korea’s leading institution dedicated to presenting traditional life, having more than two million visitors annually. The Museum has been playing significant roles in providing educational and cultural opportunities to understand how Koreans lived in traditional times. Founded in 1945, the NFMK has mainly focused on exclusive research on Korean folklore as well as acquisition, preservation and exhibition of artifacts related to Koreans’ folk life. Over the years, we have presented our curatorial activities in forms of permanent and special exhibitions, various symposium and public education programs including lectures. Today we are more focusing on customer services than ever by adopting a more open and specialized approach to change paradigm for museums in the 21st century. We are working to get closer to wider visitors both offline and only as well as from home and abroad, at the same time we are trying to make this website reflect what we are. The National Folk Museum of Korea is the only national museum devoted to the history of traditional life, and most of the collection is closely related to the daily routines and occupations of pre-modern Koreans. The diverse range of items includes wooden kimchi containers acquired during a folk research project in Gangwon Province mountain communities; skirts and jackets worn by newlywed brides; Joseon-era ornaments unearthed from graves; farming implements, and records of real estate transactions. The various pieces are organized and classified according to function and exhibited in our three interior exhibition halls and one open-air exhibition space. Also, we are presenting special exhibitions five times a year as well as maintaining Korea galleries at overseas museums in cooperation with local museums and different foundations for overseas Koreans and foreign visitors. These exhibitions help to introduce Korean culture to non-Korean audiences and provide a chance for overseas Koreans to learn about their ancestors’ homeland. Collection size:         99,971 artifacts (as of June 2011) Collection:      Artefacts related to Korean traditional life and folklore.