Seoul Education Museum, Seoul

The Seoul Education Museum is dedicated to the rich history of Korean education from the Three Kingdoms era to the present day. Tucked within a red-brick building originally constructed in 1925 for Gyeongseong First Public Normal School, the structure now stands as a Modern Cultural Asset and a symbol of Korea’s educational heritage.

Opened in June 1995 as an educational archive linked to the Jeongdok Library and managed by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, the museum showcases over 13,500 artifacts-around 1,300 of which are exhibited at a time. Through its two main exhibition halls (permanent and special), visitors can journey through time-from the Taehak schools of Goguryeo, which educated the elite, to the modern reforms of the late 19th and 20th centuries that shaped Korea’s compulsory education system.

Inside, you’ll find textbooks, classroom models, traditional writing tools, admission exam devices, and even items from 1970s–80s classrooms. Special exhibits periodically highlight themes such as independence-era activists, women in education, or educational reform movements. The museum offers a quiet, reflective atmosphere and invites visitors to appreciate how education has shaped modern Korean society.