Busan Modern and Contemporary History Museum Annex

If you are ever in the second largest city in the Republic of Korea. This museum exhibition in Busan offers and captures an important time in the making of a Busan. It gives a historical perspective of the industrious port city from in beginnings of LG, to it's shipbuilding industry, along with various other industries such as chemical, rubber, and textile. The contemporary artwork includes: the historical pre-colonial Japanese occupation of Busan, the Korean liberation movement, Korean War, and post war refugee conditions and much more. It also provides audio in English, Japanese, and Chinese. Learn about Busan! This exhibition consists of three parts: Part 1: Site of Livelihood – Sustaining Life on Limited Land focuses on Ami-dong Tombstone Village and Uam-dong Cattle Shed Village, which were the representative residential areas for refugees, and Pier 1 of Busan Port, which was essential to the refugees’ livelihoods, when over a million war refugees sought shelter in the city’s limited space; Part 2: International Cooperation – Support and Sacrifice for Peace features ‘the U.S. Embassy and US Information Service (USIS),’ ‘the United Nations Memorial Cemetery,’ and ‘Camp Hialeah,’ which are related to the 1.75 million UN forces who manned the Nakdonggang River Defense Line and sacrificed themselves for peace of the Republic of Korea and the UN. These three sites are reconstructed by three artists; and Part 3: The Wartime Capital – The Continuity of the State and Government examines the three national institutions that represented the government, which remained in place for 1,023 days despite Busan being a temporary capital—the Temporary Presidential Residence, the Temporary Government Complex, and the Korea Meteorological Administration. All these are reinterpreted through the

I enjoyed it! Took me a minute to find it as I walked into the library first. Nice place to chill and learn. I loved the opportunity to listen to some Korean music at the end of the exhibit - always love hearing new music.

It was an amazing place to learn about past Busan. And I saw a artworks in a basement for free. After then, I had a comfort time with a good coffee.

The Busan Modern History Museum is definitely a must see for history buffs or for people who want just want to get away to a quiet place. It's very informative and you'll learn a lot about how Busan came to be from the 1850's to the Modern day.

Incredible free museum that details the history of Busan. Very high quality interactive exhibits. Total of 4 floors including the basement. Lots of English translations. QR codes available to listen to audio tour in Korean, Chinese, Japanese and English. Beautiful and well organized.

The most intriguing feature - for me - is the way the Japanese colonization is described. No toning down there. Almost shocking. Another worth mentioning is the inter-active geogtaphical map that lights up the part on the geographical presenration the place you select and then plays a video on screen showing historical data of the place.

After museum, it’s good having a cup of coffee

The museum is closed for expansion into a new location next to the annex. The annex used to be the old museum, but has been remodeled into a library.