As interest in cultural heritage grows on the back of the popularity of the Netflix animation "K-Pop Demon Hunters," museums are targeting visitors with a variety of exhibition techniques. In particular, standout styles borrowed from TV variety shows — such as "Better Together" ("mungtteun") and "I Live Alone" ("nahonsan") — are drawing attention. The "Better Together" style gathers all artifacts of the same kind to deliver a moving experience not seen before, while the "I Live Alone" style offers time to focus entirely on a single piece.
According to the museum and art gallery industry on the 5th, the National Palace Museum of Korea's affiliated National Museum of the Joseon Dynasty Annals, under the Korea Heritage Service, is presenting a special exhibition titled "Records and Culture of Joseon, Handed Down for Ten Thousand Generations" at Busan Museum, commemorating the "48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee" in Busan. The special exhibition has drawn attention for bringing together, for the first time in history, the four chronicle repository copies of the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, a National Treasure held in Korea.
According to the Korea Heritage Service, the exhibition, which began on July 7, drew about 30,000 visitors through the end of July. The exhibition runs through the end of August. "The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty are a National Treasure that was stored separately in the Jeongjoksan, Odaesan, Jeoksangsan, and Taebaeksan repositories after the Imjin War," the Korea Heritage Service said. "It offers a rare opportunity to view the four chronicle repository copies in one place."
The biggest hit in the "Better Together" style was the "Silla Gold Crowns: Power and Prestige" special exhibition held earlier by the National Museum of Korea, under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, at the Gyeongju National Museum. It brought together for the first time all six Silla gold crowns designated as National Treasures and Treasures excavated in Korea, and 280,000 people visited over a total of 110 days beginning November 2 last year. Due to space constraints in the exhibition hall, admission was limited to a maximum of 2,550 people per day, but "opening runs" occurred day after day. Encouraged by the success, the Gyeongju National Museum announced it would hold an exhibition of the same kind every 10 years.
The starting example of the cultural heritage "Better Together" style is the National Museum of Korea's "Room of Quiet Contemplation," which brought together two gilt-bronze Pensive Bodhisattva statues designated as National Treasures. The Room of Quiet Contemplation was created in 2021, and five years later it is still thronged with visitors seeking to appreciate the works.
The "I Live Alone" style — which grants a spacious area to allow visitors to focus and immerse themselves in a single cultural heritage piece — is also popular. The Daegu Kansong Art Museum on July 7 assigned a separate room to "Portrait of a Beauty," a Treasure and a masterpiece by Joseon-era painter Shin Yun-bok. The Portrait of a Beauty room is a space with a traditional feel inspired by hanok, or traditional Korean houses, where visitors slowly walk down a long corridor to face a small room seen straight ahead.
Inside the room, whose walls are finished entirely with hanji (traditional Korean paper), only the Portrait of a Beauty awaits the visitor. It is seen as giving fitting dignity to the painting, which is called "the Mona Lisa of Korea."
The Buyeo National Museum also newly built a dedicated exhibition hall last December for the gilt-bronze Baekje Incense Burner, a National Treasure regarded as Baekje's finest cultural heritage. It drew attention by exceptionally dedicating an entire exhibition hall to a single artifact. In viewing order, it consists of media art, followed by the room of the gilt-bronze incense burner, and then an experience space. With the gilt-bronze Baekje Incense Burner as its star, the Buyeo National Museum attracted a total of 950,000 visitors in 2025, and in the first half of this year alone drew 550,000 visitors, a 29% increase from the same period the previous year.
An "I Live Alone" style exhibition is also being held at the National Museum of Korea. It is the "ancient Greek bronze helmet" donated by the late Sohn Kee-chung. He donated this artifact, which he received as a prize for winning the marathon gold medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, to the National Museum of Korea, and the museum is exhibiting it on its own in Donation Room 1, befitting a Treasure.
Regarding these diverse cultural heritage exhibition trends, a cultural heritage expert explained, "Various exhibition techniques are being used to meet the rising desires of visitors and to enhance the value of cultural heritage."
