Busan Modern & Contemporary History Museum Officially Opened to the Public on January 5th.
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□ The Busan Modern & Contemporary History Museum (BMCHM), which encompasses history, culture, and tourism, is open to citizens at last.
□ The city of Busan held the opening ceremony of the BMCHM in the lobby of the museum’s main building at three o’clock on January 3, 2024. The museum will be fully opened on January 5.
□ The BMCHM is located in the remodeled building of the former Bank of Korea’s (BOK) Busan branch office purchased in 2015. The site covers 5146m2 with 977m2 in total floor space. It includes one underground and six aboveground floors. The BMCHM will provide citizens with a new museum model, mixing history and culture, a complex cultural space, and a tourist attraction.
○ The former BOK Busan branch office building has been designated as a “Cultural Property of Busan” (Busan Cultural Heritage Resources No. 70), meaning changes in its usage must undergo screening by the Cultural Heritage Committee. As a result, there have been many challenges to building the new museum, especially in preserving as much cultural property as possible during the general construction effort.
○ The BMCHM is designed as a complex cultural space with a café, a souvenir shop, and convenient spaces for citizens. It also includes exhibition halls (floors 2–4), an open cultural space (first floor), a vault art museum (underground floor), a children’s experience room (second floor), an education room (third floor), and storage space (fifth floor).
○ The space is expected to create synergy in connection with the annex building of the BMCHM, which serves as a humanities base for the Daecheongmaru (big floor) and Daecheong study.
Overview of the construction of the BMCHM main building
ㅇ Location: Part of the former BOK Busan branch office in Daecheong-dong, Jung-gu
※ Remodeling of the former BOK Busan branch office into the BMCHM
ㅇPeriod: 2015–2023
ㅇSize: Area of 5146㎡, 977㎡in total floor area (one underground/six aboveground floors)
ㅇProject Cost: 27.1 billion KRW (government expenditure: 7 billion KRW, city expenditure: 20.1 billion KRW)
ㅇFacilities: Open cultural space (first floor), vault art museum (underground floor), exhibition halls (floors 2–4), children’s experience room (second floor), education room (third floor), and storage (fifth floor)
□ The BMCHM plans to provide citizens the opportunity to more easily and conveniently learn about Busan’s modern and contemporary history by preparing diverse content to experience and enjoy, including history, fine arts, and sports.
○ The vault art museum on the underground floor displays modern and contemporary culture that is closest and most essential to our history and arts in daily life through a special exhibition called, “The Closest, but Most Clandestine History.”
○ Through the special exhibition entitled, “Baseball City, Shout of Busan”, the Special Exhibition Hall on the second floor allows visitors to see “Ball City, Busan”, a nickname of Busan, which boasts the nation’s greatest enthusiasm from its baseball fans.
○ The permanent exhibition hall on the third floor presents an image of Busan’s modern times as the city developed into a modern colonial city. The exhibition is a window into today’s Busan as the first open port city and bridge to further advancement on the continent, as well as Busan’s independence movement against Japanese exploitation and oppression.
○ The permanent exhibition room on the fourth floor showcases the following images of Busan that have defined its contemporary history: a survival space for refugees while serving as the temporary capital of South Korea; refugee culture, represented by the tea room (Dabang) culture during the Korean War; the light industry’s mecca and advanced base of export industries in the 60s and 70s; and the central site of the democratization movement, represented by the 04/19 Revolution and the Bu-Ma Democratic Protests.
□ The main building of the BMCHM opened the Open Culture Space on the first floor and the Vault Art Museum on the underground floor on December 22, 2023. The Special Exhibition Hall on the second floor opened on December 27. Visitors can use all facilities at the BMCHM starting January 5, 2024.
□ Busan’s Mayor, Park Heong-joon, said, “I hope the BMCHM, equipped with the vault art museum cherishing the history of ROK, a children’s experience room for children, and an education room for citizens and students, will be reborn as a major facility adding to the 15-minute city initiative and become an pleasurable area enjoyed together by citizens of all ages.”
Website: https://www.busan.go.kr/mmch/index (Korean)
