Myeongdong in central Seoul is the city’s iconic shopping district. Korea’s premier department stores are located here and small eateries and charming boutiques dealing in clothes and cosmetics dot the streets. Nearby is Namdaemun Market where you can find just about anything you ever wanted. The entire neighborhood is a shopper’s paradise. But shopping is not all there is to Myeongdong. One of more historical sites around Myeongdong is the Bank of Korea Museum housed in a century-old building. This is where Korea’s monetary history began and where all the informational resources about currency can be found.

The Bank of Korea Museum can be reached from Hoehyeon Station of subway line number four or Euljiro Station of subway line number two. A five-minute walk from these stations would take you to a gray granite building standing opposite Namdaemun Market. Imposing and time-honored in its appearance, the building stands out among other sleek modern structures in Myeongdong. Built in the Renaissance style, the Bank of Korea Museum appears from above a straighter version of the musical symbol sharp and from the front perfectly symmetrical. The entryway is supported by round columns with tapered top and bottom. Here’s Bank of Korea’s assistant department chief Yoon Young-shik to explain more about the museum building.

The museum was built in 1912. It used to headquarter the Bank of Joseon, and has been designated as Historical Site #280. The original building was gutted in 1950 during the Korean War. Afterwards the repaired building had housed the main office of the Bank of Korea before it was renovated into a museum in 2001.

The Bank of Korea Museum opened in June 2001 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Bank of Korea. It now displays about 18,000 pieces of local and foreign currencies as well as the history and information on finance and monetary resources. This is where you come to satisfy your curiosity of money.

As soon as you enter the main entrance you will see the Currency Exhibition Hall with wooden floors and plaster ceilings. The first thing that grabs your attention here is a clear pyramid in the middle. Here’s tour guide Kim Yu-mi to explain more.

The Currency Exhibition Hall has old currencies and commemorative coins from Korea and other parts of the world. Inside the transparent pyramid are six Korean coins currently in use, including one-won and five-won coins rarely circulated these days. They are valued at 700,000 won.

It is best to start the tour the Currency Exhibition Hall with the chronological displays of Korean currencies. In the ancient currencies section you can see coins from Goryeo and Joseon with square openings in the middle.

These are currencies from the Goryeo period. This is Geonwonjungbo, Korea’s first currency. Its original name was rather long, Geongwonjungbo Baedonggukjeon. It was so named because it was a copy of the Chinese currency Geongwonjungbo. The name Baedonggukjeon was added to differentiate the Goryeo currency from the Chinese one.

Robust overseas trade during the Goryeo period about one thousand years ago gave rise to metal currencies. Starting with Geongwonjungbo Baedonggukjeon, Goryeo had issued Dongguktongbo, small silver vases and broken pieces of silver as currencies. During the Joseon period the nation issued Korea’s first paper banknote, Jeohwa, made of mulberry paper, and coins Joseon Tonbgo and Sipjeon Tongbo. But one paper money with flowers and fruits stands out among the old currencies.

There were commemorative currencies called Byeoljeon in the Joseon era. This special currency called yeolsoepae was given to a new bride from her mother to hang in her bedroom to bring five good fortunes and ward off evil.

Now that you have seen how currencies in Korea changed over time from the Goryeo and Joseon periods to the relatively recent years of the Korean Empire, Japanese occupation, and post-liberation, now it’s time to see ancient currencies from other parts of the world. A section located to the right of the entrance is dedicated to old currencies from China, Japan, Europe, Africa, and Oceania.

The first foreign currency you see is Ban Liang from the Qin Dynasty. Circular with a square aperture in the middle, Ban Liang was issued after Qin Shihuang unified China and launched currency reform. This currency had exerted quite an influence over surrounding nations for some 2,000 years. Further in the section you can see the comparisons of commemorative coins from Joseon, Japan, and China. These commemorative coins all sport unique patterns, but have different meanings. Chinese commemorative coins depicted the tao or Lao-tsu philosophy, whereas Japanese ones were generally made to express individual wishes or beliefs.

The life of currency is showcased in the back part of the first floor. This section shows what materials are used to mint currency, how banknotes and coins are made, and anti-counterfeiting measures employed in today’s currencies. You will find out that Australia and Mexico uses polymer for their currencies and each country uses different materials to make its currency. Do you know which ingredients go into the Korean banknotes?

Many people mistakenly think that banknotes are made of paper, but they’re actually made of cotton fiber, which is much stronger than paper. Korean banknotes are made entirely of cotton.

It’s also interesting to learn that 15 security features, including holograms, security thread, and color shifting ink, are embedded in Korean banknotes to detect and deter forgery.

There is even a mock vault with piles of money. Just seeing so much money delights visitors, who must happily be thinking about what they would do with all that money.

Next stop in the tour is the mezzanine. This section appears brighter than others, perhaps because of all the gold bars there. This is where you learn about gold, mankind’s oldest and most precious currency.

The mezzanine floor is divided into three zones – Gold as Money, Currency Handling Equipment, and Donated Currencies. The Gold as Money section exhibits gold bars. One gold bar is now valued at about 600 million won or over 560 thousand U.S. dollars. You can also see the large scale used to measure the weight of gold collected during Korea’s gold drive launched to overcome the 1997 financial crisis.

There are ten gold bars worth six billion won in display, making this the priciest exhibit in the museum. On the other side of the floor is the Currency Handling Equipment zone, where you can see various money-handling machines such as money counters and a money bundling machine. You are also able to see how discarded money is recycled.

Worn-out money is recycled as automotive shock absorbers or building materials. This flooring contains 43 million won’s worth of ten thousand won notes.

- Wow, this flooring material seems really solid, harder than marble. It’s nice to see that old money can be recycled.

Now let’s go up to the second floor. If the first two floors showed the history and life of currencies, this floor provides a wide range of hands-on interactive experiences. In the Play and Learn with Money section visitors are allowed to take part in various activities, such as the money quiz, coin stamping, coin rubbing, make-your-own money, and the worldwide currency puzzle. In the coin stamping corner visitors can stamp various coins, including the ancient ones from the Qin dynasty, the Russian ruble, and the British penny. Now let’s go over to the Look I’m on the Money corner where you can put your own picture on a banknote. There visitors delight in seeing their own faces printed on the money.

Next is the coin rubbing corner, where you rub on tracing paper the patterns of various coins from around the world.

The corner has all sorts of foreign coins for rubbing. It’s fun just seeing the many different patterns and engravings on the coin.

- There are so many of them I don’t know which one to pick. There is a coin from South Africa and an Australian dollar. It’s amazing to see the patterns rubbed on the paper. I also found the coin presser interesting. I liked that there are so many different activities to experience here and that I was able to see so many different coins and banknotes from other countries.

On the second floor there are also the Currencies from Around the World zone, where visitors can see currencies circulated in some 170 countries. These currencies provide a gateway for foreign cultures and world history. People lose track of time just enjoying various designs on the currencies.

On the center wall of the currencies from Around the World section are several currency designs. The most widely used design is of course portraits. There are two reasons for printing portraits on currencies – one is that putting on the portraits of notable figures on banknotes and coins raise people’s credibility for those currencies and the other reason is that portrait designs prevent counterfeiting, because it’s so difficult to immaculately forge portraits. This is why more than 70% of the currencies circulated in the world put portraits on them.

It was both entertaining and educational to learn about currencies. One last stop before you return home is the museum souvenir shop. The shop offers many interesting keepsakes to remember your museum visit. Some of more popular items in the shop are uncut sheets of banknotes and various commemorative coins.

- Last time I bought a sheet of 5,000-won notes and today I bought a 10,000-won sheet. This sheet of money looks like a painting. It would cost me quite a lot to buy a piece of painting, but this one, which is a painting itself, costs much less. This is an affordable yet precious piece of art.

It only takes about an hour and a half to tour the entire Bank of Korea Museum. But the time is jam-packed with interesting and surprising facts and fun activities. After seeing all that money, some good fortune would rub off on you and you may even win a lottery. But regardless of your future monetary luck, the museum visit was a memorable experience in itself.