'Sidaegwan' Exhibiting 48 Years of History Opens at Seoul Subway Station Gwanghwamun

Old Seoul Subway Photos, Station Staff Uniforms, and Newsletters
Experience 5G Immersive Content at Key Locations around Gwanghwamun Linked with the 'Gwanghwasi Era Project'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] An exhibition hall where you can see the 48-year history of the Seoul Subway in one place is opening inside Gwanghwamun Station. Since the first operation of Line 1 in 1974, visitors can explore the path the Seoul Subway has taken, photos capturing its old appearance, uniforms worn by station staff at the time, magnetic tickets that disappeared into history after 2009, company newsletters, and various other rare historical materials.

On the 3rd, Seoul Metro announced that it will open the ‘Seoul Subway Era Hall’ near the underground concourse on the B1 floor of Gwanghwamun Station on Subway Line 5, covering an area of 36㎡. This was promoted in connection with the ‘Gwanghwa Era Project,’ led by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency, which aims to create a space in the Gwanghwamun area where visitors can experience immersive content such as AI (Artificial Intelligence) and AR (Augmented Reality).

Right next to the ‘Seoul Subway Era Hall,’ an integrated notification center for experiencing Gwanghwa Era content will also be installed. Visitors can borrow smartphones and AR devices to experience various immersive content at major locations around Gwanghwamun, such as Gwanghwamun Square, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, and the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History. For example, by pointing a smartphone at the site of the Woldae in front of Gwanghwamun, visitors can view the history of Gwanghwamun, and by pointing it at the stairs of Sejong Center, they can play mission games.

As part of the ‘Gwanghwa Era Project,’ an AI and media art experience exhibition is also being held at Metro Museum 2 in Gyeongbokgung Station. This is two of the eight types of content from the Gwanghwa Era Project and has been open since the 14th of last month.

‘Gwanghwain’ is an experience where visitors can directly converse with SHINee member Minho, who has been reborn through artificial intelligence. ‘Gwanghwa Garden’ is a media art exhibition that uses videos and natural sounds that change in real time according to the weather conditions of the Han River in Seoul and Gyeongju.

Kim Jeong-hwan, head of public relations, said, “As we celebrate the 5th anniversary of the corporation’s founding, we hope many people will show interest in the ‘Seoul Subway Era Hall,’ where they can reminisce about old memories of the Seoul Subway.” He added, “Since Seoul Metro has collaborated in creating various contents for the Gwanghwa Era, which is led by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency, we will operate these stations so that they can become landmarks in the city center.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.