The Art of Ihwa Mural Village

Near the incredibly artsy neighborhood of Daehangno in Seoul, there lies a small village called Ihwa. About a decade or so ago, the village was scheduled to be demolished. It was old, and not particularly noteworthy.

It was one of many “moon villages”, or villages where the residents had set up their houses on the hills back in the days after the Korean War, mostly because they were poor and couldn’t afford to live in better and flatter areas of the city.

In 2006, local artists decided to try to turn the neighborhood into something that was attractive and enjoyable to both the residents that lived there as well as tourists and visitors to the area. They started to paint murals. Now, Ihwa is an area known for the many art pieces that align it’s now colorful walls. There’s supposed to be at least 60 murals in the village, and that number slowly continues to grow as time passes.

If murals and art aren’t your thing, it may be worthing checking out anyway for the numerous small coffee shops in the village (some of them even serve some great makgeolli).

Here’s just a few examples of the murals and sights of Ihwa Mural Village:

—

This is the first mural you see as you approach the hill leading up to the village.

—

As you continue to walk up the hill, you’ll come across this art piece of a man and his dog. They’re obviously lost in the view, and someone might want to alert them that the fall is a long way down if they don’t snap back into reality.

—

When you finally get to the actual village, you’ll come across your first small coffee and ice cream shop, one of many in the village. You can already see glimpses of the many murals on the villages buildings.

—

On the opposite side of the cafe, you can catch a glimpse of one of the obviously very old houses that this village consists of.

—

Two of the more popular murals in the village are these two stairs. As you can see, it’s a very vertical village. Hope you like climbing!

—

These are some other art pieces that really got my attention.

—

There’s even a few areas where you can help by writing a message or adding your own thoughts to art pieces, which is pretty neat. The “Before I Die” wall is probably my favorite mural in the whole village.

—

If you’ve seen the village and had your coffee, the only thing left for you to do is keep climbing. Since Ihwa Mural Village is perched on top of a mountain, it offers a fantastic view of the surrounding area of Seoul.