A visitor on Feb. 25 sees an irworobongdo, a traditional folding screen showing the sun, moon and five mountain peaks representing the king of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), at the reopened Calligraphy and Painting Gallery of the National Museum of Korea in Seoul's Yongsan-gu District. (Lee Jeongwoo)

By Hong Angie

Buoyed by the global K-pop craze, higher interest in Korean cultural heritage is attracting more visitors from both in and out of the country to the country's museums.

The National Museum of Korea (NMK) ranked third last year in the number of visitors among major museums worldwide.

The London-based Art Newspaper on March 31 announced this in its 2025 list of the world's 100 most visited art museums. The NMK on April 1 said it finished third in the rankings with 6,505,483 visitors.

The Louvre Museum in Paris topped the list (9,046,000), followed by the Vatican Museums (6,933,822) in Vatican City. Fourth place went to the British Museum (6,440,120) in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (5,984,091) in New York.

"The most spectacular rise, however, was seen in Korea," the publication said. "The National Museum of Korea's main venue in Seoul boomed by more than 70%, from 3.8 million in 2024 to 6.5 million in 2025. That is one of the largest rises in absolute numbers we have ever seen."

Not a short-term fad, the NMK's rise stemmed from a combination of the following factors: planning capacity for hosting permanent and special exhibitions; expansion of the viewing experience through exhibition innovation; and stimulation of cultural events and museum merchandise. Foreign visitors to the museum accounted for 3.55% or 231,192 of the visitor count, reflecting growing global interest in Korean cultural heritage.

Also making the top 100 were the Seoul branch of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea at 35th (2,112,210), Gyeongju National Museum 39th (1,976,313), Buyeo National Museum 78th and Gongju National Museum 89th.

Branches of national museums in Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-do Province; Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province; Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do Province; Buyeo-gun County, Chungcheongnam-do Province; and Iksan, Jeollabuk-do Province, all showed major increases in attendance.

NMK Director You Hong June said, "Securing third place in the survey was the result of growing interest in traditional Korean culture and cultural heritage -- the very roots of K-culture's spread -- leading to museum visits, and this reflects the high cultural sophistication of the Korean people."

shong9412@korea.kr