Museum · Yongsan
National Museum of Korea
Korea's national collection, with the Room of Quiet Contemplation: two pensive bodhisattvas of the 6th–7th century, alone in a dark room.
Look for: The two bodhisattvas.
Free
Go further, look closer.
Cities · Asia · 37°34′N 126°59′E
Seoul
A city that became one of the art world's capitals in a decade, and still has quiet rooms for a single object.
Best monthsSeptember (Frieze Seoul) and April–May
Art calendarFrieze Seoul and Kiaf (early September) · Seoul Mediacity Biennale
This guide5 essentials · 6 places off-piste
Essentials
Museum · Hannam
Leeum Museum of Art
Samsung's museum of art, in buildings by Mario Botta, Jean Nouvel and Rem Koolhaas: Korean ceramics and contemporary art.
Look for: The Goryeo celadons.
Closed Mondays
Museum · Samcheong
MMCA Seoul
The national museum of contemporary art, opened in 2013 on the site of a Joseon office and a former Defence Security Command, between the palace and Bukchon.
Look for: The courtyards that open the museum to the neighbourhood.
Daily
Museum · Yongsan
Amorepacific Museum of Art
The Amorepacific collection of Korean art and contemporary shows, in the basement of David Chipperfield's white cube headquarters.
Look for: The atrium, open to everyone.
Closed Mondays
Gallery · Samcheong
Kukje Gallery
One of Seoul's leading galleries, opposite the palace walls, with a third building by SO–IL wrapped in a chain-mail mesh.
Look for: The K3 building in the rain.
Free
Off the list
Off-Piste in Seoul
Rooms, ruins and curiosities: the city's other museum.
Garden · Jongno
Changdeokgung's Secret Garden
The rear garden of a Joseon palace: pavilions placed on ponds and in the woods, designed so that the buildings disappear into the landscape.
Book the guided tour; it's the only way in.
Architecture · Dongdaemun
Dongdaemun Design Plaza
Zaha Hadid's silver landform of 2014 beside the old city walls, with the remains of a Joseon military camp excavated on the site.
Walk over the roof garden at night.
Museum · Buam-dong
Whanki Museum
A museum for Kim Whanki, the pioneer of Korean abstraction, at the foot of the mountains behind the palace.
His late New York dot paintings, made of thousands of blue points.
Architecture · Jongno
Sewoon Sangga
A 1968 megastructure by Kim Swoo-geun: a kilometre of electronics and repair workshops cutting through the old city. Its elevated walkways have been reopened.
The rooftop deck, looking at Jongmyo shrine.
Church · Jangchung-dong
Kyungdong Presbyterian Church
Kim Swoo-geun's church of 1980, clad in broken bricks, with no windows on the street. You enter from the back, up a stair, as on a pilgrimage.
Walk round to the entrance at the back.
Architecture · Wonseo-dong
The Space Building
Kim Swoo-geun's black-brick office of the 1970s next to Changdeokgung, covered in ivy and built on many levels. It is often called Korea's finest modern building.
Look from the street; it is private.
Nearby
Paju Book City and Heyri
A town of publishers and an artists' village, with Álvaro Siza's Mimesis Art Museum, about an hour away.
If you have one day
Changdeokgung and the Secret Garden in the morning → MMCA Seoul → Kukje Gallery → lunch in Samcheong → Leeum → the National Museum of Korea before closing.