Leeum Museum of Art

Leeum is the Samsung family's private art museum — a world-class collection housed in three buildings designed by three of the most celebrated architects of the late 20th century: Mario Botta (the terracotta rotunda for traditional Korean art), Jean Nouvel (the black glass box for contemporary art), and Rem Koolhaas (the concrete-and-glass structure for special exhibitions). The architecture alone would justify a visit; the collection inside makes it one of the best museums in Asia.

Museum 1 (Botta) houses Korean traditional art that spans 2,000 years — celadon ceramics from the Goryeo period, white porcelain from the Joseon period, Buddhist paintings, and gold crown jewelry from the Silla kingdom. The collection's quality rivals the National Museum's, and Botta's warm terracotta interior, with its spiralling gallery that climbs around a central void, provides an intimate viewing experience that the National Museum's vast halls can't match.

Museum 2 (Nouvel) displays contemporary art with a rotating programme that includes works by Warhol, Giacometti, Rothko, Yayoi Kusama, and major Korean contemporary artists. The building's black glass exterior is designed to disappear into the hillside, and the interior galleries — dark, flexible, and dramatically lit — provide ideal conditions for large-scale installations. The museum's location in Hannam-dong, a hilly neighbourhood between Itaewon and the Han River, means the approach involves climbing through one of Seoul's most architecturally interesting residential areas, where traditional hanok and ultra-modern houses share the same streets.