Seoul Architecture Guide

 Seoul’s extensive history spans more than two thousand years, and accordingly it has undergone many changes. Its appearance has changed repeatedly as it grew, developed and transformed over the centuries. Seoul is also on record as the world’s fastest city to have modernized. And the city’s history is undoubtedly recounted the most plainly through its most visible face, its buildings. At the heart of Seoul, buildings constructed during the Joseon Dynasty stand harmoniously with modern and cutting edge structures, offering a unique urban landscape.

In this guide, the city of Seoul would like to present to readers throughout the world a selection of about 220 of these traditional, modern and contemporary buildings that were built and developed alongside the city’s history. We have included not only significant buildings in Korean history and architecture, but fun anecdotes and stories that people outside of Korea would also find interesting.