When is the British Museum's Korea exhibition on?

From 1 October 2026 to 31 January 2027, in the Joseph Hotung Great Court Gallery. It opens 10:00am to 5:00pm from Saturday to Thursday and until 8:30pm on Fridays.

How much are tickets?

From £14 for an adult, with a separate early-bird rate, booked through the British Museum's own online ticketing. Prices vary by time and date as they do for the museum's other ticketed exhibitions.

Where else has this exhibition been?

It opened at the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington DC, then went to the Art Institute of Chicago. London is the third stop and the first in Europe.

Is the National Museum of Korea involved?

Yes. It is a co-organiser along with MMCA and the British Museum, and much of the material comes from the Lee Kun-hee bequest held in Korea.

Exhibition·National Museum of KoreaOn now

The British Museum's Korea show opens 1 October, the first of its size in Europe in four decades

Kang Shin-wookPublished 22 September 2026Updated 21 September 20265 sources checkedEditorial policy 이 글을 한국어로 읽기

Book tickets

The essentials

Dates: 1 October 2026 – 31 January 2027 (On now)
Where: Joseph Hotung Great Court Gallery, Room 35, British Museum, London
Admission: From £14 for adults, with a separate early-bird rate
Booking: Booked online through the British Museum's ticketing site
Who it is for: All ages
Language: This one is in London, so the language question runs the other way: everything is in English. The co-organisers are the National Museum of Korea and MMCA, and their own sites carry the Korean-language material.
Title: Korea
Hours: Saturday to Thursday 10:00am – 5:00pm; Friday 10:00am – 8:30pm
Co-organised by: The British Museum, the National Museum of Korea and MMCA
Tour order: National Museum of Asian Art in Washington DC, then the Art Institute of Chicago, then London — the first European stop

Written up from National Museum of Korea's own announcement of 6 September 2026. Details change — check the official page before you travel.

The British Museum stages Korea from 1 October 2026 to 31 January 2027, drawing on the Lee Kun-hee bequest to run through two thousand years of Korean art. It is the third stop on a tour that began in Washington and Chicago, and the first large Korean exhibition in Europe in around forty years. Tickets start at £14 for adults, with an early-bird rate.

In short

Korea runs at the British Museum from 1 October 2026 to 31 January 2027 in the Joseph Hotung Great Court Gallery.
Adult tickets start at £14, with an early-bird rate, booked through the museum's own online ticketing.
It is co-organised with the National Museum of Korea and MMCA and draws on the Lee Kun-hee bequest.
This is the third stop of a tour after Washington DC and Chicago, and the first large Korean exhibition in Europe in around forty years.

A Joseon six-panel screen painting the sun, the moon, five peaks, pines and waves in blue-green and red. — The Joseon 'Sun, Moon and Five Peaks' six-panel screen, used as the exhibition's lead image. Photo: National Museum of Korea (the British Museum press release)

Most of what this site covers is in Korea. This is the exception, and it is worth covering because it is the easiest opportunity in a generation for anyone in Europe to see Korean art at scale without flying to Seoul. The British Museum is giving Korea its Great Court gallery for four months, co-organised with the two Korean national institutions that hold most of the material.

Tickets and timing

The basics

Dates: 1 October 2026 to 31 January 2027
Where: Joseph Hotung Great Court Gallery, Room 35
Tickets: From £14 for adults, plus a separate early-bird rate
Hours: Saturday to Thursday 10:00am to 5:00pm; Friday to 8:30pm
Booking: Online through the British Museum's ticketing site

Friday is the evening to aim for: the museum stays open until 8:30pm, which is three and a half hours more room than any other day, and ticketed exhibitions at the British Museum are considerably more pleasant in the last two hours than in the middle of a Saturday.

What is in it

The exhibition runs chronologically across roughly two thousand years, which is an ambitious span for a single gallery and means it works as an introduction rather than a deep dive into one period. The backbone is the Lee Kun-hee bequest — the collection given to the Korean state in 2021 and since used to anchor a series of international exhibitions.

A Three Kingdoms gilt-bronze triad: a Buddha flanked by two bodhisattvas, all within a single halo. — A gilt-bronze Buddha triad (Three Kingdoms period). Photo: National Museum of Korea (the British Museum press release)

A gourd-shaped Goryeo celadon ewer, its body inlaid with chrysanthemum designs in white and black. — A celadon gourd-shaped ewer inlaid with chrysanthemums (Goryeo). Photo: National Museum of Korea (the British Museum press release)

A Joseon landscape in heavy ink: the rock ridge of Inwangsan with mist hanging on it after rain. — Jeong Seon, 'Inwang jesaekdo' (1751) — one of the works travelling to London. Photo: National Museum of Korea (the British Museum press release)

A faceted Joseon white porcelain bottle painted with bamboo in blue pigment on a white ground. — A blue-and-white porcelain bottle with a bamboo design (Joseon). Photo: National Museum of Korea (the British Museum press release)

A ten-panel screen in blue-green tones painting the sun, pines, tortoises, deer and the fungus of immortality. — A 'Ten Symbols of Longevity' ten-panel screen. Photo: National Museum of Korea (the British Museum press release)

A Joseon folk painting of a tiger with a foolish expression beneath a pine, a magpie on a branch above. — 'Tiger and Magpie' (1800s) — a folk painting that treats the tiger comically. Photo: National Museum of Korea (the British Museum press release)

Not only antiquities

The involvement of MMCA, Korea's national museum of modern and contemporary art, is the signal that this is not purely a show of celadon and gold. Pairing historical material with twentieth and twenty-first century work is the organising choice that distinguishes this tour from earlier survey exhibitions, and it is the reason the two Korean co-organisers are the ones they are.

A 1965 oil portrait of a woman in a red dress, seated and facing the viewer. — Kim In-seung, 'Woman in a Red Dress' (1965). Photo: National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (the British Museum press release)

Do Ho Suh's self-portrait, densely embroidered in thread on paper, the contours of the face showing in the grain of the stitching. — Do Ho Suh, 'Self-portrait' (2019, thread embroidery on paper) — from the British Museum's own collection. Photo: the British Museum (© Trustees of the British Museum)

Where the 'forty years' claim comes from

The comparison is to the last comparable large-scale Korean exhibition staged in Europe, in the mid-1980s. Smaller Korean shows have happened since; what has not happened is a survey on this footing at an institution of this size. Treat the figure as a reasonable characterisation rather than a precise anniversary.

If you are in Korea instead

The same collection's home institutions are free. The National Museum of Korea in Seoul charges nothing for its permanent galleries, and neither does MMCA for visitors 24 and under or 65 and over, or for anyone after 6pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays. If your question is where to see Korean art rather than where to see this exhibition, that is the answer.

Frequently asked questions

Q. When is the British Museum's Korea exhibition on?: From 1 October 2026 to 31 January 2027, in the Joseph Hotung Great Court Gallery. It opens 10:00am to 5:00pm from Saturday to Thursday and until 8:30pm on Fridays.
Q. How much are tickets?: From £14 for an adult, with a separate early-bird rate, booked through the British Museum's own online ticketing. Prices vary by time and date as they do for the museum's other ticketed exhibitions.
Q. Where else has this exhibition been?: It opened at the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington DC, then went to the Art Institute of Chicago. London is the third stop and the first in Europe.
Q. Is the National Museum of Korea involved?: Yes. It is a co-organiser along with MMCA and the British Museum, and much of the material comes from the Lee Kun-hee bequest held in Korea.

Sources

Official notice (Korean)

Written in our own words from the sources above, never copied from them, and every date and price checked against at least two pages. The originals are in Korean. Spotted a mistake? Ask for a correction.