Busan is good

Opening of the 2025 Special Exhibition The Treasure Island of Busan, Yeongdo at the Busan Modern & Contemporary History Museum

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The Busan Modern & Contemporary History Museum (hereinafter “the Museum”) announced that the 2025 special exhibition The Treasure Island of Busan, Yeongdo will be held for a total of 105 days, from November 18 to March 2, 2026, in the Museum’s second-floor Special Exhibition Hall.

This exhibition is the first regional culture exhibition planned and hosted by the Museum since its opening. It aims to newly illuminate local identity through Yeongdo’s historical and cultural resources, which vividly reflect the shifting course of Busan’s modern and contemporary history. It has been designed as a citizen-participatory exhibition that incorporates the records and memories of local residents.

The exhibition revisits Yeongdo’s journey—from its role as a military outpost during the Japanese colonial period and as a refuge during the Korean War, through the golden age of shipbuilding, to its current revitalization as a city of culture and the arts.

Comprising three sections—Space, Time, and People—the exhibition explores Yeongdo’s past and present while sharing stories of those who have built their lives on the island.

Part 1. In Search of Jeollyeongdo

This section highlights the origins of Yeongdo’s old name “Jeollyeongdo,” its natural environment represented by Bongnaesan Mountain and Taejongdae, and the evolution of transportation—from ferries to Yeongdo Bridge—showing how the island’s geographic characteristics shaped its spatial identity.

Part 2. Crossing the Waterways

This section explores Yeongdo’s transformation through the installation of military and industrial facilities during the Japanese colonial period, the influx of refugees and haenyeo (female divers) during the Korean War, and the boom of the shipbuilding industry. It traces the arrival of Japanese settlers after port opening, the process of colonization, the daily lives of those who fled wartime conflict, and the dynamism of Yeongdo as a hub that once boasted the nation’s largest ship repair capacity.

Part 3. Dropping Anchor

Focusing on oral records capturing residents’ memories, this section presents the unique maritime industries and livelihoods shaped by Yeongdo’s ocean environment, as well as its contemporary transformation into a cultural island. It offers insight into working lives and everyday experiences of the people who have sustained the island.

Key exhibited items include a ritual document for rain at Taejongdae written by Gwon I-jin, Magistrate of Dongnae; an iron stake discovered on the summit of Bongnaesan Mountain; a student diary from Yeongseon Refugee School; and a service award plaque from a ship repair company—164 items in total, collected from 11 institutions and individuals across the country.

The exhibition provides a multidimensional view of Yeongdo through diverse materials such as historical documents, personal records, and everyday objects.

Noteworthy works include Yeongdogyo by painter Byeon Gwansik and Yeongdo Coast by Go Hee-dong, both designated as Busan Cultural Heritage Materials; Port of Daepyeong, painted by singer Choi Baek-ho, who spent his childhood in Yeongdo; and original illustrations from the picture book Kkangkkangkkang by artist Lee Young-ah. These works offer artistic perspectives on Yeongdo’s landscapes.

Interview videos featuring long-time Yeongdo residents, young entrepreneurs who have returned to the island, and ship repair workers who have built their livelihoods there convey the memories and experiences of Yeongdo across generations and professions.

In particular, the exhibition features cognitive maps created directly by Yeongdo residents as part of the Museum’s annex program Your Busan Remembered Through Places, providing a look at Yeongdo as reconstructed through personal memory.

In addition, a variety of supplementary programs will offer deeper engagement with The Treasure Island of Busan, Yeongdo.

In November and December, the Museum will host “Conversations with the Curator,” during which the curator who planned the exhibition will directly explain its intent and content. The program will be held twice during the exhibition period.

An “Exhibition-Linked Academic Seminar,” themed “Industry and Culture of Yeongdo,” will take place on December 5 to explore Yeongdo’s historical and cultural significance from multiple perspectives.

All programs are free and open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis through advance registration. Detailed information about the exhibition and related programs is available on the Museum’s website at busan.go.kr/mmch, or by contacting the Museum’s Exhibition Team at 051-607-8041.

Director Kim Gi-yong of the Busan Modern & Contemporary History Museum stated, “Yeongdo is an island that symbolically represents the history of Busan and a unique space where history and culture intersect. I hope this exhibition serves as a meaningful opportunity to connect past memories of Yeongdo with the present, and I kindly ask for your interest and support.”