Fantastic display of Korean celadon and gold. But this modern, spacious and airy museum provides a very good introduction to the history of the Korean Peninsula (apart for the mid twentieth century) for those who don't know it so well. From ancient times to the end of the Second World War, the story is told in artefacts of stone, clay, bronze, iron, silver, gold and shell inlay. The stunning jade green of celadon takes top prize. Make sure to walk through the pretty gardens.

Much of the ground floor is dedicated to Korean history. One side is mainly exhibitions on the kingdoms of Korea all the way up to the Korean Empire, while the other side covers the stone age up to mediaeval Korea. If you want to know about the history of Korea condensed into about a dozen rooms via exhibits, then this would be the place to see it. The 2nd floor also has some amazing exhibitions especially on Buddhist art and culture, and the stunning “Room of Quiet Contemplating”

We planned to come here on our first day in Seoul since it was a rainy day. We were able to kill about 3 hours here. It's definitely not enough if you want to explore it in detail. The entrance is free for the permanent exhibits. Doing some homework before visiting certainly helps with the understanding of the various collections. Postcard and stamp are sold here, and of course the mail box is available too. The view outside the museum is quite impressive, so do spend some time walking around the premises. Seoul Tower is visible from here.

By international standards it's probably a bit underwhelming but compared to all the others I've seen in Korea this is by far the best. Very large and well spaced containing some treasures such as the Danwon painting, Pensive Bodhisattva and gold crown itself was worth a look for me as I was constantly dissapinted the rebuilt palaces had not much to see inside. The other meseums in seoul had no treasures or palace artifacts (as those exhibitions were closed at 3 of the others I went) so I only got to see this type of historical treasure at this museum. Recommend at least 1-2hours, free entry.