National Hangeul Museum

It’s Hangul Day! And it’s a national holiday in Korea today, so it’s going to be especially busy around Gwanghwamun where lots of events take place every year by the statue of King Sejong the Great, the king who created the Korean script with his team of scholars back in the 15th century.

Visitors will be able to try calligraphy classes, dress up in hanbok traditional clothes, and of course try lots of Korean food at the street stalls. I’ve been to some past Hangul Day events.

(*the spelling can be hangeul or hangul)

Why is Hangul Day celebrated on October 9?

I don’t know of any other writing system that has its own special day. But then hangul’s story is so unusual. What a radical decision it was to decide to invent a totally new writing system. Before hangul was developed only educated noblemen were literate and they had to use Chinese characters which were hard to learn and not always suitable to express Korean pronunciation.

But after the new script was created it became possible for everyone, even commoners and women, (I know!) to be able to read and express themselves easily since you only needed to know 28 hangul characters rather than thousands of Chinese characters.

Of course at first, nobody knew how to read this new Korean script, so books and papers were published in classical Chinese explaining how to read it. The first one (hunminjeongeum) was published on Oct 9 1446. The explanation was written in classical Chinese along with the new hangul characters added to show pronunciation.

So the day this book was published is now celebrated as Hangul Day. 

King Sejong and the drama Deep Rooted Tree (SBS 2011)

King Sejong (r.1418-1450) was only the 4th king of the Joseon period so the dynasty was still quite new. I wrote about early Joseon Kings here. But by this point the country had become stable allowing King Sejong to focus on intellectual pursuits, rather than war, and his reign was a golden age in science and culture.

In the drama Deep Rooted Tree King Sejong is portrayed as a workaholic king desperate to realise his dream to create an alphabet for the common people whilst still scarred by the difficult relationship he had with his father. His father – the Warrior King Taejong – abdicated but continued to rule as a rather aggressive backseat driver. 

Hangul wasn’t accepted at first by the educated noblemen who continued to prefer classical Chinese. Books were then published in a mix of Chinese and hangul and it wasn’t until the 18th century that the first book written completely in hangul was published.

In the drama, King Sejong faces opposition from many noblemen who DO NOT want commoners to be able to read – education is power after all – and scholars are even being murdered to prevent its development…

The rocky history of hangul

Since its creation, Hangul has had its ups and downs. It gradually spread throughout the country despite being looked down on by the educated elite. Then it was proclaimed the national script in 1894 by King Gojong only to be banned soon after during the Japanese Occupation (1910-1945).

Chinese characters continued to be used in documents and newspapers especially for nouns to clarify the meaning of similar sounding words. Then in the 1970s the tide began to turn more in favour of hangul when the government banned the use of Chinese characters in official documents. And Chinese characters were not taught in school any more. The ban was lifted but over the years newspapers have used fewer and fewer Chinese characters and if you look at a Korean newspaper today, you’d struggle to find any at all. 

In North Korea, only hangul is used. No Chinese characters are permitted!

The National Hangul Museum

As well as having its own special day, Hangul even has its own museum. The National Hangeul Museum opened in 2014 in the same complex as the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Here in the main exhibition hall is a large exhibit of the opening section of hunminjeongeum the first book written to explain the philosophy behind the new script.

The contemporary building is eye-catching and the interior modern and cool with geometric shapes reflecting the hangeul characters. According to the museum website, the architecture was designed to reflect the principles behind hangul -the shapes of the three primary vowels of hangul represent the three elements of the universe: sky (positive, yang), the land (negative ying), and humanity, (neutral). And following this philosophy, the museum is the place where the sky, land and people meet. Read more about hangul on the museum’s website.

So what can you see at the museum?

The museum has a collection of important documents and books which might be interesting exhibits – if you know what you’re looking at! (there’s not much English explanation). Highlights for me included a sweet hand written letter by King Jeongjo as a child. Illustrated books on fortune telling and Shamanism. The first Hangul advertisement from 1896. And lots of examples of hangul fonts.

But to be honest, after entering the swanky building, the exhibits can seem a bit of an anti-climax. Lot of cabinets with samples of books might not be everyone’s cup of tea especially with little info in English. I’d say it’s a good idea to sign up for a guided tour (every Wednesday in English) since the written explanations in general are so sparse.

Part of the permanent exhibition highlights 7 important points in the life of hangul (in Korean only) starting of course with King Sejong in the mid 15th century. King Gojong (r.1897-1907) the last king of Joseon is also depicted as he proclaims hangul as the national script in 1894.

The nobleman Yi Mun Geon is shown bowing at his parents grave. This is significant because the grave (erected in 1536) is the oldest known tomb with an inscription in hangul. On the side of the grave stone is a warning to not damage the tomb. So it shows that the people were literate in hangul by this point.

Then we have Official Shin Gyeong Jun [1712–1781] who wrote many books on writing and language. And Ju Si-gyeong (1878-1914) one of the founders of modern Korean linguistics. Korean grammar is based on his book The Grammar of the National Language (1910)

As well as the permanent exhibitions there are temporary exhibitions held several times a year. At the moment there is an exhibition of Korean dictionaries and The Anatomy of Hangul in the Enlightenment Period.

What’s the cafe like?

The mood in the cafe is the same as the rest of the museum. The architecture and environment is modern and airy. I like it. And yes, I enjoyed my slice of Marlenka Armenian honey cake although Mr Kim gasped at the 6,000 won we paid. Especially when it was served on a very un-luxurious paper plate with plastic forks!

But since themed coffee shops are so popular here, I was expecting to find a hangul themed Cafe  brimming with Instagrammable hangul desserts and beverages. At least a hangul character barista-ed onto the top of my latte. If I were in charge I’d be hangul-ing up everything in sight. At least have some fun with it.

Is the museum worth visiting?

It’s worth popping in if you’re going to the National Museum anyway. It’s free to get in. The grounds are pleasant and there’s even a lounge to sit and eat your own food. But in general I found some of the exhibitions a bit understated and dry.

The lack of explanations (especially in English) didn’t help. It’s almost as if after the effort of coming up with the building and interior, the museum ran out of steam and couldn’t decide how to fill the space. And I was surprised not to see any calligraphy showcasing different styles of hangul. Some large art works would have made things more exciting, for me at least.

But I didn’t look at all the museum’s facilities. I didn’t look at the children’s museum or the learning centre. It might be good for kids. And temporary exhibitions are changing throughout the year. So there might be something exciting coming up. if you’re planning a visit, I’d check what the special exhibition is first and also sign up for a guided tour in English.