‘Busan Geunhyeondae History Museum’ Fully Opens on the 5th

Opening Ceremony of Busan Modern History Museum Main Building at 3 PM on the 3rd

About 100 Attendees Including Mayor, City Council Chair, Superintendent, and Local Residents

Expected to Serve as a 15-Minute City Anchor Facility and Civic Cul

The ‘Busan Modern and Contemporary History Museum,’ encompassing history, culture, and tourism, is finally opening to the public.

On the 3rd at 3 PM, the ‘Busan Modern and Contemporary History Museum Opening Ceremony’ will be held in the lobby on the first floor of the main building, with a full opening scheduled for the 5th.

About 100 people, including Mayor Park Hyung-jun, City Council Chairperson Ahn Seong-min, Superintendent of Education Ha Yun-su, Jung-gu District Mayor Choi Jin-bong, city council members, and local residents, will attend the ceremony, which will proceed in the following order: ▲ progress report ▲ commendation of contributors ▲ commemorative and congratulatory speeches ▲ commemorative performance ▲ opening performance (ribbon cutting) ▲ facility tour.

The newly opened main building of the Busan Modern and Contemporary History Museum is a remodeled version of the former Bank of Korea Busan Headquarters building, purchased in 2015. It boasts a site area of 5,146㎡ and a total floor area of 977㎡, with one basement floor and six above-ground floors. It is designed as a new museum model that integrates a historical and cultural hub, a complex cultural space, and a tourism hub, aiming to engage citizens.

The former Bank of Korea Busan Headquarters building is designated as Busan City Cultural Property No. 70, so any changes to its appearance require review by the Cultural Heritage Committee. Although this made construction more challenging than usual, the new museum was created while preserving the cultural heritage to the greatest extent possible.

Busan Modern and Contemporary History Museum.

The history museum is developed as a complex cultural space, featuring exhibition halls (2nd to 4th floors), an open cultural space on the 1st floor with a caf?, souvenir shop, and citizen convenience areas, as well as a Vault Art Museum (basement 1), a children’s experience room (mezzanine 2), an education room (mezzanine 3), and a storage facility (5th floor).

This is expected to create a synergistic effect together with the annex of the history museum, which currently serves as a humanities hub with spaces such as the Daecheongmaru and Daecheongseoga.

In particular, from its opening, the history museum will offer diverse content including history, art, and sports, along with various attractions and activities, providing citizens with an easier and more comfortable opportunity to learn about Busan’s modern and contemporary history.

The Vault Art Museum on basement level 1 features a special exhibition titled ‘The Closest and Most Secret History,’ showcasing the closest modern and contemporary culture in our history and the subtle yet essential arts of daily life.

The 2nd-floor special exhibition hall presents a special exhibition called ‘Hey! Cheer Up! The Roar of Busan, the Baseball City,’ allowing visitors to see at a glance the story of Busan, also known as “Gudo (球都) Busan,” which boasts the nation’s highest enthusiasm for baseball.

The 3rd-floor permanent exhibition hall displays Busan’s modern history, showing its development as the first open port city, a gateway for modern civilization and continental expansion, and a colonial modern city, while also exhibiting the independence movement resisting exploitation and oppression.

The 4th-floor permanent exhibition hall exhibits Busan’s modern era, which led South Korea’s contemporary history, including its role as the temporary capital during the Korean War, the flourishing refugee culture represented by survival spaces and coffee houses, its status as a hub of light industry and export industry in the 1960s and 70s, and its position as the birthplace of the shipbuilding industry and the center stage of democratization movements such as the April 19 Revolution and the Bu-Ma Democratic Protests.

The main building of the Busan Modern and Contemporary History Museum opened the 1st floor (open cultural space) and basement 1 (Vault Art Museum) on December 22 last year, followed by the 2nd floor (special exhibition hall) on December 27. From the full opening on the 5th, all facilities within the museum will be available for use.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun stated, “With various facilities including the Vault Art Museum preserving the history of the Bank of Korea, a children’s experience room for kids, and an education room for citizens and students, the Busan Modern and Contemporary History Museum will become another key anchor facility forming a 15-minute city, providing a relaxed cultural space enjoyed by many citizens.”