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Art museums · Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea

Four buildings, one institution: Seoul, Deoksugung, Gwacheon and Cheongju, and free on Wednesday and Saturday evenings

Official site

MMCA is Korea's national museum of modern and contemporary art, and it is not one building but four. Seoul, beside Gyeongbokgung, is the contemporary one and the one most visitors mean. Deoksugung, inside the palace grounds, shows early modern Korean art. Gwacheon, south of the city beside the zoo, is the big one with the outdoor sculpture park. Cheongju, an hour and a half away, is an open-storage building where you look at the racking as much as the art.

Each has its own hours, its own price and its own closing day, and the only thing that reliably carries across all four is that under-25s and over-65s get in free. The detail worth planning around is the Seoul and Deoksugung evening opening: after 6pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays admission is free, and so is Culture Day, the last Wednesday of every month.

Visiting

Hours
Seoul: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm Wednesday and Saturday 10:00 am – 9:00 pm, with the 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm evening opening free
Closed
1 January, Seollal and Chuseok. One-off closures are announced on the notices page
Admission
A KRW 10,000 combined ticket at Seoul when three or more special exhibitions are running. Free if you are 24 or under or 65 or over. Free after 6pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and on Culture Day, the last Wednesday of each month
Address
Seoul building: 30 Samcheong-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul
Getting there
For the Seoul building: Anguk Station (Line 3) Exit 1, Gyeongbokgung Station (Line 3) Exit 4, or Gwanghwamun Station (Line 5) Exit 2, each about ten minutes on foot
From the airport
From Incheon (ICN): AREX to Seoul Station, Line 4 to Chungmuro, Line 3 to Anguk — about 90 minutes to the Seoul building. From Gimpo (GMP): Line 5 to Gwanghwamun and walk, roughly 55 minutes
  • Gwacheon, Deoksugung and Cheongju each set their own hours and prices — check the page for the building you are going to, not the Seoul one.
  • Gwacheon's outdoor sculpture park is worth the trip on its own in good weather, and is a long way from the Seoul building.
  • Cheongju is open storage: you are looking at how a collection is kept as much as at the works themselves.

Checked against the official pages on 2026-09-21. Hours and fees change — confirm before you travel. Official site

How much English you will find

  • MMCA runs a full English site at mmca.go.kr/eng covering all four buildings, with hours, prices and current exhibitions.
  • An English audio guide is published for the Seoul building and is available through MMCA's own guide page rather than a rented handset.
  • Wall texts and exhibition labels are generally bilingual in Korean and English; catalogues and talks are more often Korean only.
  • Staff at the Seoul building's information desk deal with English enquiries routinely.

Exhibitions and events

Full schedule

How to visit

  1. 1

    Work out which building you actually want

    Seoul for contemporary work and the easiest access; Deoksugung for early modern Korean painting, inside a palace you also have to pay to enter; Gwacheon for scale and the sculpture park; Cheongju for open storage and conservation. They are separate visits in separate places, not wings of one museum.

  2. 2

    Go after 6pm on a Wednesday or Saturday

    Seoul and Deoksugung both run an evening opening to 9pm on those two days, and admission during it is free. Combined with Culture Day on the last Wednesday of the month, that is three chances a month to see the national contemporary collection without paying anything.

  3. 3

    Remember Deoksugung needs two tickets

    The Deoksugung building sits inside the palace grounds, so you pay palace admission to reach it and museum admission to go in. Neither is expensive, but arriving with only one of them in mind is a common and avoidable annoyance.

Frequently asked questions

Which MMCA building should I go to?

MMCA Seoul if you have one afternoon and want contemporary work — it is central, next to Gyeongbokgung, and easy to combine with the palace. Gwacheon if you want scale and the sculpture park and have most of a day. Deoksugung if early modern Korean painting is the draw and you are visiting the palace anyway.

When is it free?

Always, if you are 24 or under or 65 or over. For everyone else, after 6pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays at Seoul and Deoksugung, and all day on Culture Day, the last Wednesday of each month. Those evening slots are also noticeably quieter than a weekend afternoon.

Is MMCA Seoul open on Mondays?

Yes — the Seoul building opens on Mondays, closing only for 1 January, Seollal and Chuseok. Gwacheon, Deoksugung and Cheongju all close on Mondays, so a Monday art plan in Seoul means the Seoul building specifically.

Do I need to book?

Not normally; tickets are sold at the door and general admission is not capped. Individual special exhibitions occasionally run timed entry, and those are flagged on the exhibition's own page — worth a look if there is a headline show on while you are there.

Buildings and branches

  • MMCA Seoul

    Samcheong-ro, on the east side of Gyeongbokgung

    Hours: Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri, Sun 10:00 am – 6:00 pm; Wed and Sat 10:00 am – 9:00 pm

    Closed: 1 January, Seollal and Chuseok (open on Mondays)

    Admission: KRW 10,000 combined ticket; free after 6pm on Wed and Sat and on Culture Day

  • MMCA Gwacheon

    Near Seoul Grand Park, with an outdoor sculpture park

    Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

    Closed: Mondays and 1 January

    Admission: KRW 3,000; free on Culture Day

  • MMCA Deoksugung

    Inside Deoksugung Palace; early modern Korean art

    Hours: Tue, Thu, Fri, Sun 10:00 am – 6:00 pm; Wed and Sat 10:00 am – 9:00 pm

    Closed: Mondays and 1 January

    Admission: KRW 2,000 plus KRW 1,000 palace admission; free during the Wed and Sat evening opening

  • MMCA Cheongju

    Open-storage building and conservation science centre

    Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

    Closed: Mondays and 1 January

    Admission: Open storage on floors 1 to 4 free; special exhibitions on floor 5 KRW 2,000

Official channels

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