The shouts and tears of modern history in familiar streets, downtown Seoul tour

‘Spring in Seoul’ in March is sublime. In downtown Seoul, there are spaces with traces of the Japanese colonial era. The Seoul Museum of History, Gyeonghuigung Palace, Gyeonggyojang, Jeongdong-gil, and Seodaemun Independence Park are places where historical stories before and after the March 1st Movement dwell at every street corner. Seoul was the center of the anti-Japanese national movement, and the March 1st Movement celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. The Seoul Museum of History exhibits the changes of Seoul by era, such as the Korean Empire and the Japanese colonial period. Special exhibitions related to the March 1st Movement, and will also be held. Gyeonghuigung Palace next to the museum is a palace with a painful history that was damaged during the Japanese colonial period. If you leave Gyeonghuigung Palace, you will be led to Gyeonggyojang, which was used as an office and lodging by Kim Gu, the president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, and Donuimun Museum Village, which has been overlaid with art to regenerate the city center, encouraging time travel. In Jeongdong-gil, there are relics containing the joys and sorrows of modern history. The ‘Road of King Gojong’, which King Gojong walked at the time of Agwanpacheon, and Jungmyeongjeon, where the Eulsa Treaty was signed, are heartbreaking. A trip to the city center of modern history is ripe with moving to Seodaemun Independence Park. In the Seodaemun Prison History Museum in the park, the scene of resistance and death in prison where martyrs were imprisoned during the March 1st Movement remains intact. It is good to visit Dilkusha in Haengchon-dong, where Albert Taylor, who spread the Declaration of Independence throughout the world, and Yi Sang’s house, a genius poet during the Japanese colonial period, were all on foot.

Inquiries: Seoul Museum of History Gyeonghuigung 02)724-0274 / Gyeonggyojang 02)735-2038 / Jungmyeongjeon 02)771-9952 / Seodaemun Independence Park 02)3140-8305