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Incheon Art Platform Incheon Art Platform is a complex culture and arts space established by purchasing a modern structure as a part of an old city center regeneration project. As a space open to local artists and authors, this place is also a sea of inspiration” where the artists live together and strive to catch creative works. 13 buildings, which are utilized as a workshop, a library, educational halls, exhibit halls, and performing stages, are all filled with artistic senses, exuding a special vibe. This is why Incheon Art Platform is extremely popular among tourists looking for the best photo spots. Especially since the early 2017 when a tvN drama, Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, aired and gained much fandom, the venue has been widely regarded as a “hot place.” Such popularity of Incheon Art Platform does not only stem from the artistic spirits emanated from the buildings. Every street and alley between the buildings is filled with interesting things to see. From a steel frame work resembling a tree spirit and a cute snail made by bolts of various shapes to Sponge Bob drawn on the pavements and pocket balls painted on manholes—the place gives you more and more excitement as you keep walking through the area.

Incheon Open Port Modern Architecture Museum Incheon Open Port Modern Architecture Museum was originally built by Japan and used to be home of the Japanese Eighteenth Bank Incheon Branch. Headquartered in Nagasaki, Japan, the Eighteenth Bank made great profits from intermediary trading in which merchants of Nagasaki imported British cotton that had been imported to Shanghai and then exported the item again to the Korean market. Buoyed by this success, it opened the Incheon Branch in 1890. As the Eighteenth Bank was designed and established by Japan for the sole purpose of dominating financial circles of Joseon, this place still possesses footsteps of our sad, painful history. Incheon Open Port Modern Architecture Museum exhibits photos and materials that show the past of Incheon after the opening of the port. As you look through these valuable materials, you can get a glimpse of the different looks of Incheon in those days. The museum gives off an exotic vibe thanks to its wooden trusses, Japanese-style tiles, and a hipped roof. Here, you can check out not only structures from the early phase of the modern era but also the looks of each of the concessions and the destroyed and lost contemporary buildings. In Incheon Open Port Modern Architecture Museum, the footsteps of the modern civilization still remain intact, which is why it is one of the must-visit sites for college students who major in modern and contemporary history and modern architecture. The museum is located at a 10-minute walking distance from Exit 1 of Incheon Station towards Chinatown.

Incheon Open Port Museum Incheon Open Port Museum, which remodeled an old Japanese First Bank building, contains everything about the history of Incheon Open Port. The four permanent exhibition halls display relics accumulated from the immediate aftermath of the port-opening in 1883 up to 1910 when Japanese colonization began. Located in the heart of the Incheon open port history, the museum is where you can learn about the looks of modern Incheon after the opening of the port through various aspects of the modern culture introduced to the city. Exhibition Hall 1, which is the main exhibit of the museum, has selected the most notable items of the modern civilization first introduced through Incheon Port after its opening in 1883 and presents them to the visitors. Exhibition Hall 2 is a themed hall that only exhibits materials related to the Korean railroad history, and it primarily presents to the audience relics and materials on Gyeongin Railway, the first railroad of Korea. Exhibition Hall 3 is another themed exhibit that features replicas and videos of streets of the Incheon Port during the open port period, and there is also a photo zone where the audience can take pictures with a scene from the open port era in the backdrop. Exhibition Hall 4 holds a theme of utilizing a safe actually used back in the day when the building was a bank. The hall exhibits materials related to financial institutions and Incheon Jeonhwanguk during the open port period. The museum remodeled Japan's First Bank Incheon Branch building, which displays the latter Renaissance style in a central dome style. So you can feel both the antiqueness and beauty of a modern structure. The museum is located right next to Incheon Open Port Modern Architecture Museum at a 10-minute walking distance from Exit 1 of Incheon Station towards Chinatown.

Daebul Hotel Exhibition Daebul Hotel Exhibition is where you can get a glimpse to the history of Daebul Hotel, which is the first-ever Western hotel built in Korea. In Life History Museum, you can see the life history of Jung-gu, Incheon in the 1960s and 1970s. Daebul Hotel Exhibition and Life History Museum are located on the museum street where many themed museums are concentrated. As you look through the museum, you can experience Incheon during the enlightenment period a century ago. Daebul Hotel was Joseon’s first hotel where foreigners who arrived in Joseon through the Incheon Port often stayed overnight before departing for Seoul. In Daebul Hotel Exhibition, you can see through the hotel's history as well as replicated hotel rooms. The building consists of three floors. On the 1st floor, you can find traces of the hotel that were discovered at the Daebul Hotel site, and the remaining traces help you predict the hotel's architectural style. You can also watch videos on the building’s history of changes from Daebul Hotel to Junghwaru Restaurant and then to demolition. On the 2nd floor, you can check out the replicated rooms of Daebul Hotel and materials related to the operation methods, usage fees, and services of not just Daebul Hotel but also other hotels, inns, and lodgings in Incheon at the time. Antique furniture, tea cups, coffee makers, tableware, and other modern items on display will make you awestruck. Daebul Hotel is the first Western-style hotel in Korea where coffee was served for the first time in the country. Perhaps, this is why there are many cafes on the Open Port Street that have remodeled century-old wooden buildings, red brick warehouses, and other modern structures. The 3rd floor is a replicated banquet hall. In the old days, a banquet hall used to be a place of social gatherings that provided food and music. Today, Daebul Hotel Exhibition uses the banquet hall as a planned exhibit hall or lends it to citizens or organizations who wish to host seminars, lectures, or exhibitions. Outside the banquet hall, you may use the virtual fitting machine to try on modern-style outfits and dresses and take photos.

The Museum of Korean Modern Literature The Museum of Korean Modern Literature was established together by the city of Incheon and Incheon Foundation for Arts and Culture. Here you can see the entire history of Korean modern literature and experience the history in various ways. In the permanent exhibit, you can look at the history of Korea's modern literature from the contemporary period of enlightenment around 1894 to 1948. The exhibit is constituted in a magazine style so you can check the formation and historical flow of Korean modern literature at a glance. The Museum of Korean Modern Literature is where you can not only look at the essential literary works of the time but also enjoy modern literature in an easy, fun manner. The works feature vertical writing, ujongseo method of writing from right to left, and Chinese characters that are different from what we use today—and all of these give off a vintage feel. Inside the museum, you may also encounter authors whose works were not included in the school curriculum because of pro-Japan tones during the colonial period or the divided North-South ideologies. In addition to poetry and novels, many works of various genres such as plays, essays, and popular literature are also on display. The museum hosts not only permanent exhibits but also various planned exhibits based on literature and humanities, small exhibits where you can check out rare materials in various topics, and humanities lectures and educational programs.