Seoul Metropolitan Library

37°33′59.06″N 126°58′40.16″ESeoul Metropolitan Library (Korean: 서울도서관) is a Metropolitan Library in Seoul, South Korea. It is located in Taepyeongno, Jung-gu, the heart of Seoul, facing the Seoul City Hall and Seoul Plaza, next to the City Hall Station on Seoul Subway Line 1.

Seoul Metropolitan Library
LocationTaepyeongno, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Established2008
Collection
Size200.000
Access and use
Population servedall citizens (aged over 19)
Other information
Websitewww.lib.seoul.go.kr

History

The building was first built by the Governor-General of Korea in 1926 during the Japanese occupation. Registered as Cultural Heritage No. 52, initially was used as the headquarters of the governor-general of Korea. At the end of the Third Battle of Seoul in 1951 during the Korean War, communist Chinese and North Korean troops fought successfully in chasing out US and UN forces out of the city before marching through ruined Seoul to the building and then planting a North Korean flag on its roof, carried out by a Chinese PVA platoon. The city hall was expanded 6 times. The main building is a designated registered cultural property of the Republic of Korea. The North building was built in 1962 and the new building in 1986. Both were demolished in 2006 to make way for a new city hall construction.

Original plans called for the historic building to be razed and replaced with a new design, but support for preservation put a halt to demolition. The Cultural Properties Committee, under the Cultural Heritage Administration, registered the building as a historic relic. Eventually, a compromise was reached, preserving the front building facing Seoul Plaza, and allowing construction of a modern building behind the old one.

A large digital clock for the building was installed in 1975, and replaced with an analogue counterpart when Lee Myung-bak was mayor of Seoul. Following the competition for a new city hall, the building was reconstructed and reopened as library.[1] The building, registered as a cultural asset, has been converted into a library with a collection of more than 200,000 books.[2][3]

Public transportation

See also

References
  1. "'7수 끝에…' 서울시 새청사 최종설계안 발표". The Hankyoreh. 2008-02-19. 30% 문화공간 이용 다음달 기초공사 시작
  2. "Seoul's New City Hall Opens". Chosun Ilbo. 4 September 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
  3. Seoul City Hall’s metamorphosis pleases book lovers
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