Friends, I continue to introduce you to the sights of Seoul. Toward the end of my walk through Seoul Forest, I noticed an unusual art installation — a giant faucet with running water. Nearby, there was an exhibition featuring some massive industrial structures. It turned out to be the Waterworks Museum. Admission was free, but I had already run out of time, so I decided to come back another day and take a closer look at this unusual place.
Museum history
The location of the museum is no coincidence: a water purification plant has operated here since 1908. It was the first facility of its kind in the country. The opening date of the complex is considered the starting point of the modern water supply system in Korea.
A patent for the construction of the water purification facility was issued by the emperor in 1903, and the building works took five years to complete. At the time of its launch, the system could supply clean water to 165,000 residents of the city.
The museum opened in 2008, exactly one hundred years after the facility began operating. As the name suggests, the exhibition is dedicated to everything related to water supply. The collection is spread across several buildings. Visitors can walk through the exhibition halls, enter the slow filtration chamber, and explore the outdoor display with large-scale objects. At the far end of the complex, there is a small area with a waterfall, a water wheel, and public water pumps.
In every hall of the museum, I was greeted by very friendly elderly staff members who clearly enjoyed telling me interesting facts about their part of the exhibition — in English.
Visitors can also turn their walk around the museum into a small quest. At the entrance to the main exhibition building, the administrator gives each visitor a map of the complex with empty spaces. While walking around, these spaces can be filled with colorful stamps featuring the museum buildings. At the exit, showing the completed map to a staff member earns a small branded souvenir — a pen, a fan, or a pencil.
How to get there
I reached the museum by metro. The nearest station is Seoul Forest on the yellow line. You can plan the walking route using the Naver app.
Admission to the museum is free. The grounds are open daily from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm.
In my next article about Seoul, I’ll tell you about the Studio Ghibli Collection store. It will be especially interesting for fans of Hayao Miyazaki’s work.
Enjoy your travels!
