Pets, Jogging Shoes, Bookstands... Highlighting the Lives of Former Presidents at Cheongwadae

Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Marks 1st Anniversary of Cheongwadae Opening with Special Exhibition

To mark the 1st anniversary of the opening of the Blue House, an exhibition showcasing the lives of past presidents will be held. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is hosting 'Stories of Our Presidents - Here Were the Presidents' from the 1st to August 28th at the Blue House Main Building and Chunchoogwan. Various related props and materials will be unveiled, and parts of the Blue House’s original appearance will be restored to welcome visitors.

Park Bo-gyun, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, explained, "The Blue House has been the stage of supreme leadership where past presidents wrote the turbulent history of Korea for 74 years," adding, "Through symbolic props, we plan to show the moments when they agonized and made decisions at the pinnacle of power." He also expressed confidence, saying, "This will be an opportunity to encounter our presidents through storytelling, moving away from the traditional way of dealing with their achievements and faults."

The exhibition will take place in the core spaces of the Blue House, the Sejong Room and Inwang Room in the Main Building. It will display props that encapsulate the lives of past presidents along with related photos, such as an English typewriter (Syngman Rhee), a sketch of a pet dog (Park Chung-hee), a tungso flute (Roh Tae-woo), jogging shoes (Kim Young-sam), gardening scissors (Kim Dae-jung), and a book stand (Roh Moo-hyun).

The exhibition space in the Main Building will be restored to the period when the president received state guests and conducted official duties. The cover will be removed to reveal a red carpet, and artworks installed at the time of construction will be placed back in their original positions. The most notable artwork is the 'Geumsugangsan-do' (Golden Landscape Painting) on the central staircase. The gold-colored parts, originally painted with a mixture of silver, had oxidized and turned black, but artist Kim Sik personally restored it to its original color.

A Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism official said, "We will also unveil the 10-panel folding screen 'Aaeililsinji Daehanminguk (我愛日日新之大韓民國)' by calligrapher Lee Soo-deok, who welcomed BTS in the Chungmu Room anteroom, and the mural 'Hunminjeongeum' by Baek Geum-nam, which was installed in the Sejong Room." They added, "At the briefing room on the 2nd floor of Chunchoogwan, visitors can also see furniture, tableware, and other daily items that were used for a long time in the Blue House." To protect Blue House facilities and ensure visitor safety, the simultaneous capacity will be limited to 200 people.