The National Archives of Korea, located in Sujeong-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, is an organization that specializes in preserving national records. The National Archives of Korea was established as a state-of-the-art record preservation facility in 2007 by benchmarking the world's advanced record preservation facilities and was designed to preserve Korea's historical records. The National Archives of Korea consists of 3 floors below ground and 7 floors above ground and is comprised of four areas: the library, the studio, the office, and the exhibition and reading building.
The National Archives is involved in record management tasks such as collection, registration, preservation, classification, and technology of the nation's important records, and each record is safely preserved and protected in a specialized library. In addition, it provides services such as exhibitions, readings, and cultural events to promote the excellence of archival culture and spread it.
The National Archives of Korea can be divided into three major exhibitions: the Nation and Records Exhibition Hall, the Documentary World Heritage Exhibition Hall, and the Documentary Culture Experience Hall. The Nation and Records Exhibition Hall is a permanent exhibition hall that introduces Korea's record traditions, world archives, the process of enacting public records, and various public records. The Nation and Records Exhibition Hall includes the Traditions of Records corner, the World Archives and Public Records Act Enactment corner, the Audiovisual Records corner, and the Administrative Museum corner. This exhibition hall displays the Constitution, minutes from cabinet meetings, military records, and architectural records. Next, visitors can take a look at the Memory of the World Exhibition Hall, which is also a permanent exhibition hall that introduces the Memory of the World designated by UNESCO. Here, there are World Documentary Heritage corner, and Korea’s Documentary Heritage corner. Here, people can view documentary heritage from around the world, such as Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, and Korea's documentary heritage, such as the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty.
Lastly, there is the Documentary Culture Experience Center, where visitors can enjoy a variety of experiential activities. When you enter the Recording Culture Experience Center entrance, you can experience rubbing copies in the Ancestors’ Printing Art corner. There is also a space where children can experience puzzles, such as the Finding Pieces of Records corner, and a space where you can experience videos, called the ‘What Are Records’ corner. This is a space where you can directly experience the recorded culture of our ancestors, including the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, Uigwe, Confucian Bookplate, and Mugu jeonggwang dae daranigyeong, through various activities such as rubbing copies, doing puzzles, and digital experiences.
The National Archives of the National Archives is open from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm on weekdays, excluding weekends, national holidays, and public holidays. If you want to see a variety of materials, from records created in Korea to records from around the world, in one place, I would like to recommend visiting The National Archives of Korea. Additionally, if you would like to take a professional field trip, you can apply on the website. During the tour, you can tour the scanning room, restoration room, academic reading room, deoxidation room, library, and exhibition hall. When taking the tour, you should be careful as there are people working. I would like to recommend to the archives as a space where children can experience things, as well as those who want to explore and gain more detailed knowledge. For more information, please feel free to visit The National Archives of Korea website or call the official phone number.
The additional place to introduce is the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty Museum. This museum is located in Odaesan Mountain, Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon-do, and was established to store and display the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty and Uigwe. It was officially opened on November 12, 2023.
Silok and Uigwe, which were stored in the Odaesan Incident, are cultural heritages that show the essence of the historical heritage of the time. However, during the Japanese colonial era, some of the actual records and Uigwe were taken out to Japan and returned to Korea in 2006 and 2017, respectively. The National Joseon Dynasty Annals Museum is where you can see the recovered materials. This is the only place where you can see the original version of the Annals directly, and you can see the original Uigwe along with the Annals. The museum consists of various spaces, including a permanent exhibition room, a special exhibition room, and a realistic video hall, where 1,207 related artifacts are preserved and exhibited.
The space to open this time is a permanent exhibition hall. In the exhibition hall, you can see the journey from Japan to Korea of related materials stored in the Odaesan accident. Admission to the museum is free, and it is closed every Tuesday. It is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:40 a.m. from November to April, and is available from May to October at 5:30 p.m.
All of the aforementioned places are places where you can store and display materials recorded by Korea. In particular, few countries have recorded the entire history, such as the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, and you will be able to see the most historical records and data in Korea except for the lost data. If you have a chance, I recommend you to visit an archive and museum where you can see Korean history and records.
