Seoul City Hall (서울, 시청)
Seoul City Hall (서울 시청)
This newly established government building is a new look located at the heart of Seoul. It looks great to me. I know exactly how place looked like five years ago. Now, the old building is being turned into a library--luckily, with emphasis. Why? That's because most buildings that were built during the Japanese occupation were tore down into bricks and pieces, some of them can be found at museums.
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| Sideview of Seoul's new City Hall |
Yes, as a foreigner I am happy to see a historical treasure such as this because, as an outsider, Korean history is one of the most interesting one in northeast Asia. So, it is really amazing to see both the old and the new buildings at the same place relating Korea's colorful story.
Of course, I have visited both the new City Hall and the old one. Honestly I've been inside the new one many times but only once inside the old one, which is now turned into Seoul's Metropolitan Library.
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| View of the City Hall during the summer of 2013 |
Design of the new Seoul City Hall (서울 시청)
The new City Hall looks very interesting to me since I also love futuristic and creative designs. I am not a designer nor an architect but loves studying designs and doing some myself. Anyway, I heard many comments regarding the design of this new government building. Some say it looks like a tsunami wave about to engulf the old building right in-front of it. While others say that it looks like an alien monster, similarly, about to devour the old one. Varied ideas and imaginations!
However, my first impression about it is that I was really glad to see another new design in Seoul area since not many of them can be found in this district, although some started to pop up nowadays. Probably, some would not appreciate so much the design when looking from the outside, but when you go inside the building you might say something else--maybe better than your first impression.
Actually, the building is supposed to be a green building. I was impressed to see the wall garden inside it. I thought it great and brilliant. You can see plants on the walls stretching from above the floor and almost to the ceiling as you enter. It's almost all green. The surrounding walls of the City Hall is glass which is supported by iron structure, as you can see in the photos here.
A Brief Background & Facilities
The old Seoul City Hall (in front of the new one) has been used from 1945 up to 2008 by the past governments. In 2012, the new city hall was opened to the public on August 27. It took 4 four years to complete the whole structure.Now, this new building is being used as a multipurpose facility: cultural shows, events, exhibitions, wedding ceremonies, performances, among other social functions.
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| Green walls of Seoul City Hall |
The Front Garden &City Hall Plaza (시청, 서울)
The frontyard of this new government office provides a wide and great space for visitors and people living or working close by. During lunch time, especially from early spring up until before winter, people bring their lunch boxes or order food and enjoy them while sitting on the green grass.During summer, kids can enjoy the fountains when the temperature is really high. The fountains are constructed within a 9.5 meter wide space above the solid ground. They operate the fountains from March to November from 7:30am to 9pm. It feels great to look back fun memories when I was a little kid enjoying fountains, pools, and streams.
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| Cool Fountains at the City Hall |
Address: Taepyongno, Junggu, City Hall Station (Seoul, Exit 5)
Subway: Line 1 & Line 2
Website: http://plaza.seoul.go.kr/
More Attractions close to the City Hall
Ttuksogeong PalaceGyeongbukgung Palace
King Sejong Statue and Park
Now, if you want to find out more details to can either check out that link above or sent me message and I would be happy to provide you more info.
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Enjoy!
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