Day 9 -- Class and Leeum Museum

After class today, I took the subway to the Yongsan district to visit my favorite museum in Korea -- the Leeum Museum. Before I went to the museum, I stopped by a cafe in the neighborhood known for having amazing tiramisu. I got the delicious tiramisu and lemon oolong tea to go and ate it in a nearby park before walking to the museum. 


Today was extremely hot so I was happy once I arrived in the air conditioned building. I started off with Leeum's permanent collection. Leeum has four stories, each one with a different theme, and a Guggenheim-like spiral staircase connects the floors. The staircase has a glass window as the roof and holographic panels covering some of the windows so when the sun shines through the ceiling a rainbow covers the staircase.


The fourth floor is the starting point of Leeum, and is full of celadon pottery. It was amazing to me how centuries ago people were able to make such precise and nearly perfect vases without all of the technology we have today. My favorite room on the floor is full of rows of glass cases hanging from the ceiling, each containing tiny cups and vases. The reflective nature of the cases makes it look like the vases are going on infinitely, and it is absolutely beautiful. After admiring the celadon, I moved downwards to the third floor, which was full of buncheong pieces (similar to celadon pottery but coated with a white slip), some of which had beautiful paintings on them. I then moved to the second floor with its calligraphy, and finally the first floor with the decorative works, many of which were idols of Buddha.




To transition from the part of the museum featuring older works into that which features the more modern works was a staircase designed by Olafur Eliasson, one of my favorite artists. Semicircular hoops were attached to the ceiling and the front wall, which, because of the mirrors covering the ceiling and the wall, created the effect of full circles.


I paid a brief visit to Leeum's current modern art exhibition, which was incredibly unique. The featured artist clearly liked to play with the idea of the passage of time, with snowmen actively melting in the museum and an orange substance being released from the ceiling to form a mound on the floor. 


After the Leeum Museum, I took the subway back to my neighborhood and quickly did my homework before getting dinner. I went to Kkai Restaurant, which serves traditional Singaporean chicken rice, complete with the classic chicken and onion soup.

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