Seoul National Museum

I know it's been a while, but homework has been picking up and engineering is as magical in Korea as it is in America. 

This past Saturday I chose to continue my museum hunt by heading to Seoul National museum. It is right by Yongsan, the area where the US has its large military garrison. So I hopped on the train at around 1PM and started making my way to the museum. As I transferred trains a man approached me and said, "Excuse me, are you in the army?" This caught me completely off-guard. First, his English was perfect. Second, I have long hair and am about 30 lbs above regulation weight for the Army, so I felt pretty good that I could at least briefly pass off for someone of reasonable weight. I also had no idea who this Korean guy was. 

I replied no and said I am an exchange student from GW. We then started talking more. For starters, he was an American. I often forget the USA is a nation of immigrants. However, I rightfully assumed him to be Korean because his parents are Korean-American immigrants. I asked him why he assumed I was in the army and he asked me because he's in the army here himself. He is stationed in the Yongsan garrison and was wondering if I was new on base. We talked more and he thought it was hilarious that it was only my 3rd week in Korea. We exchanged Kakao IDs and will probably hang out at some point in the future. My mission to make friends with someone in the army was completed far quicker than I thought it would be.

So I get off the train and in the station they have signs that point to the museum. After a few museum themed tunnels and a staircase I get out of the subway to the sight of this:

One of 2 Army helicopters flying overhead

The entrance opened up to a large concrete walkway with lamp posts and a coffee shop on the left. Dead ahead was a fairly large reflecting pool with a pagoda on an inlet in the middle. I didn't go inside because two people were doing a dramatic reading. If you've ever stumbled in on a dramatic reading, it's kind of off putting. Especially when a red haired white lady is dressed in an Indian sari and yelling in Old English. 

 The pond was directly across from the museum, so I decided to walk around it first as I read that there was an outdoor sculpture gallery. Along the perimeter I got a pretty good shot of Seoul Tower right between the two main wings of the museum.

 The sculpture garden was on the other side of the lake and the first part had a lot of pagodas which were pretty cool to see.

The one on the top left was the tallest, and the twin ones on the bottom right were the widest. 

There were some little kids running around which I thought was cute, but then I heard a lot more kids laughing. I walked down this trail past a waterfall (see waterfall) and saw some signs for Yongsan family park. It was a big playground with some cool looking slides, a giant bench sculpture and The Wicker Man from the movie, The Wicker Man. I didn't take pictures here because I figured a tall guy who hadn't shaved in a few days travelling alone taking pictures of children wouldn't go over well in any country.

NOT THE BEES

I walked back to the outdoor gallery and saw some cool Buddha statues:

Some cool sculptures of people in old Korean dress:

I like to think they're ancient tag team wrestlers who were immortalized in stone

 And then this thing. I'll give you a dollar if you know what it is. Give up? Check the caption, which is a direct  quote from the plaque in front of it.

"The Joeson royal household had a tradition to establish a womb depository at an auspicious place when a child was born. In the womb depository were a jar containing the baby's amnion, placenta and navel string. This stone item is a case used in the womb depository to store such a jar." Yup. 

So after saying gross and laughing to myself I walked to this huge bell, which was cast in 1468. This bell older than America's discovery. And about 20 feet tall. The loop on top is a dragon and it has its own pagoda-like structure around it. It is always interesting to see stuff that's older than America because it makes you think of how violently different the western hemisphere is now than it was before Europe kind of found it in the middle of the ocean.

This bell is so big it goes up to 11 

 There were some other cool sculptures and towards the end there was another good view of Seoul tower, but then I headed into the real museum.

Before going into the museum I had to decide whether or not I wanted to see the special exhibit, Art Across America. I decided against it because I didn't fly across the planet just to take a good hard look at what I left; I came here to see new things, experience new cultures and perhaps meet some cute girls at this museum. I accomplished the first two objectives on this museum trip.

The museum's main gallery has a floor-plan a little bit like a lollipop. It has a entrance and one large main corridor that houses the galleries. I decided that I should start at the top and work my way down so I didn't waste any time. It takes 2 escalators to take you up one floor, so I hopped on the first set and was brought up without any problems. I then got to the escalators on floor 2 and saw that they were off with red lights on the side. Then the escalator started spitting out some words in Korean.  I sighed, shook my head, and then opened my eyes and the escalator was on. I got really freaked out, but not freaked out enough not to take the escalator. I got to the next one and again, it starts speaking to me in Korean. This time I ignore the lights and start right on a-climbin'. Then the voice stopped and then the escalator kicked on. I then realized that the voice was saying, "Stand back, this thing will be dangerous if you're on it when it kicks on!" Science is dangerous when you can't speak the language, but whatever, it got my blood pumping to go aggressively look at some art.

The view from the 3rd floor balcony

 I apologize in advance for the graininess of these pictures, this museum was extraordinarily poorly lit and flash was prohibited. Pop, if you're reading this, you would have been angry at the low levels of light.



The first exhibit was art from India. There were some Buddha sculptures and figures, some gold work, and some very pretty Islamic art. It's a shame it was all so low lit, no good pictures came out.

The next section was Chinese art. They had some beautiful ceramics and sculptures of zodiac symbols. The best ceramic piece I saw in this part was this plate. Asian artwork has a certain way of capturing birds that I really enjoy. That, and it's art you can eat off of.

The next section was the Japanese section. Japan and Korea have had a tenuous relationship in the past because of military invasion and brutal colonialism, but that does not change the beauty and presence of Japanese art and culture in Korea. They of course had Samurai armor, a work of art in and of itself in terms of beauty and functionality, as well as some traditional wood block prints. I like those the because all of this stuff is etched into wood and individually inked. There's no room for error when it comes to the stamping. I also really fucking hate modern art, so it's nice to look at actual pictures.

The next section was all about things they found in an old shipwreck off the coast of Korea. It was a trade ship that visited China, Korea and Japan in the so called "Maritime Silk Road." It had pots, Buddhist artifacts, Japanese monks' trinkets, a TON of Chinese coins, medicinal herbs, and some weapons. It was also very poorly lit as well, so no pictures.

Next were some HUGE stone Buddha statues. They were in a room all to themselves, each one about 20 feet tall. 

There were more than these, but they all formed a large semi-circle around the room. Buddha statues aren't as violent or animated as lots of Christian artwork, but frequently the religious message can get lost when there's a crusade going on in the background and the flame of the holy spirit is over about 3 guys' heads. These statues are simple and serene. The statues do the initial inspiring but the rest is up to the individual. 

My favorite thing in the entire museum was not some piece of artwork or famous sculpture or some kind of national artifact. No, my favorite part was the ancient back scratcher. I am not making that up. Read the plaque.

Only the most dignified had back scratchers. The rest had to rub up against walls. 

 I laughed really loudly in this quiet museum and a guard looked at me. It was worth it. I don't mean to be crude or crass or an ugly American. It's just funny that a back scratcher is in a national museum. Hell, one of the Ninja Turtles is in the Smithsonian. I just never expected there to be a Buddhist back scratcher in existence, let alone in a museum. Most prevalent in all exhibits were pottery. I found the pottery to be dull as it all tended to look the same after a while. I guess all art does, but un-decorated green pots are only so interesting. The artwork on some was breathtaking, don't get me wrong, but call me a barbarian if I don't see the beauty and dignity in a plain Celadon vase.

The Knots

Then there were the privately donated galleries. This was an entire floor of things private collectors had donated. It was practically a museum's worth in and of itself. One hall was full of traditional Korean woodwork, a few more were full of pottery, and one was full of roof tile ornaments. If you've ever one of those Asian style  roofs with the tiles like scales, the ends of those tiles that come off the roof have little end pieces. Some had lotus leaves, others had dragons, still more had different characters on them.  But my favorite exhibit was the private collection of Hanbok knots. Hanbok was the traditional Korean style clothing  worn during the Joeson period, and these knots ornamented women's outfits. They are all hand made and tied, which baffled me because I can barely tie my shoes. Some were intricate meshes of thick rope in a diamond, other were tassels, and others still had beautiful hand knotted patterns. It may just be the novelty of a non-European style of dress, but I think it looks pretty cool.

I left the museum just as the sun was going down and left pretty satisfied, but not how I wanted to feel. I expected to see more painted canvas art or calligraphy. I was kind of disappointed because I wanted to see a specific kind of art. I don't mean to complain, it was a great time seeing so many new things.


Next museum: History Museum.