Museums .. Part I?

The story of King Sejong:

This guy, was cool. One of the most beloved figures of Korea. The museum is exceptionally awesome because it's underground and one of the entrances is behind a huge statue of him in the middle of Gwanghwamun Square. He was the renowned King that ruled from 1418-1450. (The 4th king under the Joseon Dynasty) His major achievement is the creation the Korean writing system of Hangeul!! I mean what a genius, right?! To create a whole language?  But from going around the museum and reading his quotes and whatnot, it was evident that he was also a very charismatic and trustworthy leader; coincidentally also deeply loved by his people. My rating for this museum: 4/5 (only because there was not that many English explanations so I missed out on a lot of information haha)

The Story of Admiral Yi Sunshin

Another awesome fella. He also has a prestigious huge statue in the middle of Gwanghwamun Square. He was the prominent commander who protected his country during the Imjin war!!(aka the Japanese invasion of Korea) probably one of the most taboo topic in Korea from what I've heard. You know how they say to never talk about Religion, Politics or Money? Let's just say that in Korea, you should also never talk about Japan, and if they are, it's probably not anything nice.... At any rate, not only is he famous for his intellectual battleground war tactics, but he also happens to be the creator of the famous "Turtle Ship." This was the main battleship of the Korean Navy, and according to the museum, the world's best assault ship of the time. Arguably, the tactic that helped defeat the Japanese! In the museum there is a replica of this ship, and pretty interesting reads and artifacts about the numerous battles faced throughout this war. One of  my favorite quotes and also his most remembered is: 

          "If you are prepared to fight to the death, you will live. 

If you avoid battles to preserve your life,
you will die"

Admiral Yi, 1597 

National Museum of Korean Contemporary History

One of my top favorite museums I have ever visited... thus far. It's pretty cool that when you enter, the first floor is barely the "Prelude to the Republic of Korea" & it includes every piece of important information such as independence declaration and movement (again the suppression and information about the Japanese occupation) and flag history!!! Finally I learned: The flag is referred to as Taegeukgi and the meaning of all of the colors/symbols, in my opinion is one of the most creative and unique representations (I say this partly because where I come from, the majority of the flags are Yellow, Blue and Red, and most have the same meaning. After independence, people should've been more creative in S. America!!) Anyways, that's besides the point haha SO the flag: The Blue and Red obviously represent the Yin and Yang = the perfect peaceful balance. The four trigrams around the center represent: Earth, Fire, Water, Heaven. And all of these merge together to form a balance and peaceful oriented flag, that represents the ideology and values of Koreans. I'm sure if you google this, there's probably a more sophisticated and educated answer haha but I thought it was pretty cool to see and learn in person. Anyways..... back to the museum. Every floor focuses on different time periods of the country. So floor 3 focuses on the founding of the Republic. From building a modern nation, to post-war recovery and it touched around the international efforts that aided Korea (this was around the era of World War II, so this floor was full of history) The next floor was the development of the country. There were awesome exhibitions of urbanization and economic growth (such as car replicas of this time period, as well as pop culture icons) AND lastly, the 4th floor was by far the COOLEST. It was the modernization and "Korea's vision of the future" Oh my gosh. So awesome! There was an exhibitions of all of the cell-phones during the past 10 years from the big brick ones up to the latest iphones/ipads as well as 4D presentations about smart houses and the advancements of technology. I loved it! It was like going through 100 years of history in 4 floors. I rate it 5/5 ! 

and lastly,

The National Folk Museum of Korea

This one was interesting if you are keen and more into the socio-cultural history of Korea. There were exhibition rooms ranging from the typical and traditional Korean Wedding attire (and also included the traditional wedding gear for other Asiatic countries) Then, there was "History of Korean people" exhibition where it dated back to the cave-man, agricultural, rural, indigenous beginning humans of this place (lol, sorry for the language) and how they lived "back in the day". It was interesting but then again, we were all underdeveloped humans at one point, so I'm sure it was not that different to what other museums may say. My favorite part of this museum is that for the most part, it used replicas to explain all of the details. So the costumes,places, food, and artifacts depicted all throughout are very interesting! Definitely can spend hours here just walking around reading and seeing everything. Another reason why this is a definite stop for any visitors, is that it is located right next to one of the coolest Palaces! So overall I really enjoyed it, and as if my opinion matter whatsoever, I rate it a 3.9/5