Curious about contemporary history of Yongsan? Yongsan History Museum opens today

▲ This photo, provided by Yongsan-gu, shows Yongsan History Museum. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

 

SEOUL, Mar. 23 (Yonhap) -- The former Yongsan Railroad Hospital, which was built during the Japanese occupation in 1928, will be reborn as the Yongsan History Museum.

Yongsan-gu, Seoul, will hold an opening ceremony of the Yongsan History Museum on Mar. 23 and start operation.

The museum has two stories above ground and a total size of 2,275 square meters. This building was a place to treat workers mobilized for the construction of the railroad during the Japanese colonial period. The internal traces and stained glass, which show that it was used as a railroad hospital while maintaining the red outer wall, are still preserved until today.
 

▲ This photo, provided by Yongsan-gu, shows the stained glass in Yongsan History Museum. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

After it was operated as Chung-Ang University Yongsan Hospital since 1984 and relocated in 2011, Yongsan-gu has planned to build a museum to introduce contemporary history of Yongsan and collected relics.

The Yongsan History Museum shows changes in modern Yongsan from Joseon Dynasty to the present.

It introduces the process of formation of Haebangchon and Samgakji Hwarang Street since the military site during the Japanese colonial period was used as a U.S. military base after liberation.

Various cultural features of the Yongsan district can also be found, including Yongsan Old Cathedral Yongsan Seminary, Seoul Central Mosque, which is the first mosque built in Korea, and Bugundang.

The economic and social aspects before and after liberation can be seen, such as how Koreans took over a confectionery company, which was operated by Japanese in Yongsan, and transformed into Crown Haitai Confectionery and Orion Confectionery.

 

▲ This photo, provided by Yongsan-gu, shows the hallway in Yongsan History Museum. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

The relics displayed in the museum were either purchased or donated by Yongsan-gu, and it reaches about 4,000 items.

Moreover, it also received artifacts from Quy Nhon, Vietnam, Yongsan-gu’s sister city, and Afghanistan, Belgium, Paraguay, and Bangladesh embassies in Korea, located in Yongsan.

Sung Jang-hyun, the head of Yongsan-gu Office, selected "Dongchal" as a representative relic of the museum. Dongchal is a record of the date and time of the foundation of the building in Japan as well as the name of the designer, and it was found on the ceiling of the hospital's obstetrics and gynecology department.

Sung said, "We plan to develop various museums in Yongsan-gu, including the National Hangeul Museum and the National Museum of Korea, and the Yongsan History Museum into a single tourist route.

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