Hanseong Baekje Museum

A museum revealing that Seoul is a city with 2,000 years of history — this is Hanseong Baekje Museum.

Seoul often calls to mind Joseon-dynasty palaces and fortress walls first, but long before that, the ancient kingdom of Baekje made this area its capital — called Hanseong — for 493 years. This museum researches, preserves, and exhibits the history and sites from precisely that Hanseong Baekje period.

The first thing you'll see entering the lobby is a symbolic display: a thin cross-section sliced directly from the Pungnap Earthen Fortification wall, letting you see the layered earth and stone up close. The exhibition halls proceed in order — from the Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age cultures of the Han River basin, through Baekje's 493-year rise here, to the Three Kingdoms' rivalry over the Han River that followed.

The museum itself sits amid a cluster of Baekje-era sites, including Mongchon Earthen Fortification, so you can walk the actual ancient grounds after touring the exhibits.

Admission is free (special exhibitions may charge a fee), closed Mondays and January 1st. Summer hours (Mar-Oct): weekdays/weekends 09:00-19:00, Fri 09:00-21:00. Winter hours (Nov-Feb): weekdays 09:00-19:00, weekends 09:00-18:00, Fri 09:00-21:00.