Old Mailboxes and a Gallery in a 1969 Building: A Walk Through Gunsan's Independent Bookstores and Art Museums

Walk the alley of Guyeong 5-gil in Wolmyeong-dong and neatly displayed book covers behind the glass of a low old house stop you in your tracks. This is Marie Bookstore, an independent bookstore. In an old Gunsan alley, it calls up again the name of the legendary bookshop poet Park In-hwan opened in Jongno, Seoul, in 1945.

It opens 11:00–19:30 from Tuesday to Saturday and until 18:00 on Sunday, and closes on Monday. Literary books, independent publications and records about Gunsan, carefully chosen by the owner, fill the wooden shelves. It is a very cozy space for a short read on your trip or for choosing a book as a souvenir.

Leave the bookstore and walk to Yeonghwa-dong to see how 1960s urban architecture was reborn as a contemporary art museum. Since 2015, Idang Art Museum has revived the 'Yeonghwa Building' as a complex arts and culture space. The building took its current 4-story form in 1969 and was used as a bathhouse, shops and an inn. Keeping its time-worn stairs and walls as they are, the museum shows curated exhibitions and experimental works by resident artists.

A small art retreat hides in the middle of the Haemangno modern architecture belt, too. Jangmi Gallery, near the Gunsan Modern History Museum, is a 2-story exhibition hall in a restored modern-era building. It is open free of charge 10:00–17:00 (closed on Monday and January 1), so you can casually enjoy paintings and crafts by local artists.

After the art museum walk, enter Sinchang-dong (19 Mailbox Street 2-gil), and the street scene becomes much friendlier. Mailbox Street began when residents of the shopping street around Gunsan Post Office painted disused mailboxes with pictures and colors and set them in front of their shops. The whole street is open at all times, all year. At Mailbox Street Promotion Center, open free of charge 10:00–18:00 on weekdays (closed on Saturday and Sunday), you can write a postcard for the slow mailbox and join hands-on programs.

Hangil Bookstore, a local bookstore in Naun-dong (2nd floor, 38 Hanaun-ro), has supported Gunsan's reading culture with a depth different from the old downtown's independent bookstores. It also opens 10:00–21:00 and is a reliable refuge for travelers who love books and stationery.

Most of the spaces on this course are within a 5–10 minute walk of each other. On Monday, Marie Bookstore and Jangmi Gallery rest, and on weekends the Mailbox Street Promotion Center is closed. Visit between Tuesday and Friday and you can enjoy every indoor space without missing one.

We suggest a half-day plan. See the exhibitions at Jangmi Gallery and Idang Art Museum in the morning. In the afternoon, write a postcard on Mailbox Street, choose a book at Marie Bookstore on Guyeong 5-gil and head to a nearby roastery cafe.