Visiting The Songpa Book Museum
My experience at the newly built book museum in Seoul. You'll love the space and exhibition if you're into books.
A new museum near Jamsil has opened and it's a book museum where anyone can stop by, rest and bury their heads in books!
Let's take a closer look at Songpa Book Museum.
INFORMATION
Address: 송파대로 37길 77
Entrance Fee: Free
Hours: 10:00-18:00
Mon: Closed
Public Holidays: Closed
You'll find Songpa Book Museum beside a new apartment complex and minutes from Seokchon Market.
First step in, you'll walk into a large hall with a comfortable wooden design.
The stair-like seats are perfect for picking up a book and getting to it right away as well as for hosting book-related events.
There were not events happening on my visit, but I was able to capture locals and children freely browsing and reading books.
Upstairs you'll find the media library with touches of yellow. You can watch movies and video clips here on desktop computers and iPads.
The permanent exhibition explores the past, present and future of books. It'll take you back in time all the way to Joseon Dynasty.
It explores the past of books and reading.
You'll find Sookhyangjeon, a classic Korean novel from the 17th century as well as furniture from the olden times like desks and bookshelves.
You can try out a couple of things at the exhibition too! The photo above is me trying out Gyeongseotong, a container for memorizing scriptures.
They wrote down phrases they need to memorize, put them in the container and carried it around to study on the go.
The one I got was 월광독서, roughly meaning even when one is poor to the point of relying on moonlights instead of candle lights, studying needs to be done diligently. It sounds like something my mom would say.
The second space of the exhibition shows the present days of books and reading!
You can see the overall trends of books and how Korean authors get their books published.
It'll be an interesting one to check out for those who love books regardless of the language the books are written in.
I personally think this is the coolest space at Songpa Book Museum.
It feels like a scene from a K-pop music video! Definitely pose for a photo or two here.
The above photos show brainstorming notes of mystery thriller author Jeong You-jeong's. You can see how much thinking and planning she does before writing her mysteries.
Here, you can see rooms of publishers' and designers' and really feel how much work and effort of many go in before a book is born.
The next section is about typography.
The first lead-type letterpress print was first made in Joseon in 1436. It was not successful in commercialization then and Germany later started using it widely.
You can try out letterpress printing at the museum too! I was happy they came out so beautiful.
Be sure to do a couple to take home as souvenirs.
Lastly, they have lockers for you to store heavy items so you can browse around more freely.
If you're looking for a calming experience during your busy times in Seoul, make your way over to Songpa Book Museum!