Gangwon Yeongwol-gun Secures National Heritage Agency Storage Facility 'Yedamgo'

At the Former Mungok Elementary School in Buk-myeon, Yeongwol-gun... Targeting Opening in the Second Half of 2027
"From Gwangsan to Gwangsan" Cultural City Promotion County's Effort Results

Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province Yeongwol-gun (Governor Choi Myung-seo) announced on the 23rd that it has secured the Excavated Artifacts Historical and Cultural Space (Yedamgo), a government public institution under the National Heritage Administration.

Yedamgo, meaning "a space containing old things," is a specialized facility for storing, managing, exhibiting, educating, and experiencing non-affiliated artifacts. The National Heritage Administration has been operating Yedamgo at four locations nationwide and conducted a public contest in March this year to establish one additional site each in the Gangwon and Gyeonggi regions.

A view of Yeongwol County Office, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province. Photo by Yeongwol County Office

Accordingly, Yeongwol-gun revised its project plan four times to select a suitable site and submitted the old Mungok Elementary School in Mungok-ri, Buk-myeon, as the project application site, which was deemed the optimal location. After three on-site evaluations and two project plan presentations, the old Mungok Elementary School was designated to be utilized as an Excavated Artifacts Historical and Cultural Space for storing, exhibiting, and experiencing excavated artifacts.

Yeongwol-gun, known as a museum town housing diverse cultural heritage such as the World Cultural Heritage Jangneung, Scenic Site No. 75 Korean Peninsula Landform, and the Nango Kim Satgat Historic Site, along with 22 museums, actively promoted itself as a cultural city under the slogan "From a coal mining town (鑛山) to a culture mining town (光山)." Through numerous cultural policy projects and cultural heritage utilization efforts, it made every effort to attract the institution under the National Heritage Administration and ultimately succeeded.

The National Heritage Administration plans to invest 10 billion KRW in the project, complete the basic and detailed designs by May 2026, finish construction by the first half of 2027, and transfer artifacts and open the facility in the second half of 2027. To this end, the county plans to carry out building use changes, facility improvements, public property use, and remodeling permits.

A Yeongwol-gun official stated, "Utilizing the existing building as a government-operated complex cultural space and running various educational programs will firmly establish Yeongwol nationwide as a 'town of cultural heritage.' Furthermore, the increase in floating population visiting Yedamgo, including resident personnel, will greatly contribute to revitalizing the local economy, which is highly significant."