Ami Art Museum: Stop In Chungcheongnam-do Now
Whenever I plan road trips or a day trip in Korea, I get on my map and find all of the random bits and bobs that I’ve tagged and see if anything aligns. So often the coolest of places are found in the most random of places and then ideally, there’s a restaurant or cafe nearby with food so the trip has an experience, some refreshments, and something beautiful.
One of my favorite finds that we’ve now visited a few times when moving back and forth across nearby Chungcheongnam-do is Ami Art Museum (아미미술관). It’s a place that combines art, nature, and there’s a nice cafe to get a coffee too.
Get ready to go to Ami Museum of Art:
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How To Get There
Address: 753-4 Nambu-ro Sunseong-myeon, Dangjin-si, Chungcheongnam-do (충남 당진시 순성면 남부로 753-4)
By Car: There is so much to see in Chungcheongnam-do and beyond. If you don’t have a car, look into renting a car while in Korea. It’s not difficult and makes planning super cool adventures even easier. This way you can stop here, and then head out to places like Farm Kamille in Taean-gun too.
By Bus: From Seoul’s Nambu Bus Terminal, take a bus headed toward Dangjin Bus Terminal. The trip will take 1.5 hours and cost around W7,000~. From the Dangjin Bus Terminal, you’ll want to go outside to find the bus stop to take bus 51, 52, 53, 53-1, 53-2, 54, 54-1, or 55. You’ll take the buses for about 35 minutes to the Seongbuk-ri Stop (성북리). The bus stop is just across the street from the entrance to Ami Art Museum.
Basic Info
Hours: 10:00am ~ 6:00pm
Days: Open year round though it may be closed on holidays. Check their website for updates on closures.
Website: http://amiart.co.kr/
Admission: Adults: W6,000; Children: W4,000
- There are discounts available from time to time on Korean ticketing sites. Just search the museum name in Korean in Naver and they’ll come up if they are available.
What To Know
Ami Museum is a private art museum that is housed in what was formerly the Yudong Elementary School. Like many schools in Korea, the elementary school closed down in 1994 when they no longer had enough students to sustain them. The rapid birthrate decline has meant that schools have closed and in their place museums and other businesses are moving in. That takes some time though.
For Yudong Elementary School, new owners took over in 2000 but the private art gallery wasn’t opened until 2010. Artists Park Ki Ho and Lee Sang Suk cultivated the space to what it is today. Now, visitors can enjoy both indoor and outdoor spaces that bring together art and nature into a beautiful experience.
What To See
After first buying tickets, you walk on a dirt path to see the building ahead of you, a large field on the right and a path on the left leads behind the schoolhouse to a more traditional Hanok building in the back. You should absolutely walk in, around, up, and down to see everything.
Cafe Giverny
If you’ve got a rambunctious youngster like I do, make sure you let them run it out a bit outside in the field before you go inside the gallery. You are directed to continuously hold your child’s hand inside so for confident I-can-move-on-my-own little ones, this may be difficult.
After the drive in, just let them run around outside a bit before you enter and it’ll be easier, at least in our experience. While out on the field, you’ll notice a building in the back corner. This is now a cafe that has a beautiful decor. Take a seat and grab a coffee while you watch your little one through the windows chasing the bugs and running in circles.
The Schoolhouse Gallery
Back up to the gallery, you’ll immediately feel the schoolhouse vibes as you walk down the long wooden corridor with doors that line it to each exhibition space. There are five exhibition rooms and some workshop spaces at the end. The workshop space wasn’t opened the first time I went, but this last time had various elements that you were welcome to touch and move and take photos with. The exhibition rooms hold the permanent collection that is rotated routinely.
Don’t forget to walk around the outside of the schoolhouse too as the vines are cut away strategically to uncover artworks that have been painted on the exterior of the building as well.
Rooftop Views
After exiting the school house, you might notice that there is a further building to the right. You can walk up stairs to get to the roof of this one. In the spring, you’re face to face with cherry blossoms, in the summer, beautiful green leaves, and in the autumn beautifully colorful foliage. From this vantage point, you can see the entre grounds of the space as well so be sure to check it out.
Hanoks & Gardens
Behind the school house is still more to see. The modern brick building used to house the cafe but when we last went it had just moved to the new location on the field so I’m not sure what they’ll put in there now. There’s also an old Hanok which is an open air museum of sorts with traditional knick-knacks and things. You can continue to walk beyond the Hanok to find a small garden which has flowers throughout the seasons as well.
What To See Nearby
We’ve previously put this spot on itineraries when we’re heading out to Taean-gun and area with beaches and other beautiful places to explore. But if you want to plan a special spring outing, then you should definitely head to Ami Art Museum and then the amazingly beautiful daffodil covered mountainside at Yoogibanggaoak. The Ami Art Gallery takes just a couple of hours to visit. There isn’t food here though so you don’t want to go hungry. Plan to eat enroute.
This is a great afternoon spot since there is also a cafe on the grounds so you can get a coffee though. It really is a beautiful stop that we’ve enjoyed more than once. We’ve gone in the autumn and in the spring and both were beautiful. It’s definitely a place you could visit in every season and still enjoy the surroundings.
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