Olympic Park Seoul. Sculptures galore.

It’s only because I explore and prepare thoroughly before traveling, that I stumbled upon Seoul’s Olympic Park on the web.

We visited the park in winter, so everything normally green was now a yellowish, orangish brown.

Apparently not an obvious touristic site to visit, since there is not a whole lotta info about it, nor tons of raving reviews. But from what I saw and read it appealed to me right away.

It is a giant park, filled with sculptures by artists from all over the world AND with a few musea, like the SOMA.

There were clearly renovations going on, but as usual all the info was in Korean, so we could not make much sense of it.

Like this courtyard next to the SOMA; art or renovation? No clue;-).

So on a cold, but sunny day we took a taxi that took us to the Olympic Park. A long ride, since it lies far away from the centre.

That day (a saturday) the park was filled (but not in a ‘full’ way) with people. Mostly locals. Taking a leisurely stroll through the park, walking their (dressed up) dog, going around on a rental bike, having coffee and cake at Angelinus, and admiring the outdoor and indoor art.

A relaxed atmosphere in a beautiful environment.

The park has several sub-sections.

You can visit either ‘just’ the park, the Olympic-oriented part, the art-sections or explore all three aspects in one visit.

It is useful to get (free) maps at the information desk (near the entrance of the park where all the totem poles are).

The maps indicate the exact location of each and every sculpture and give information about the art. Other buildings and sights in the park are marked as well.

More then 200 sculptures; we did not see them all!

Another museum in the park.

There are only a few stores and there is an Angelinus for coffee and cake.

We skipped the Olympic aspect and the musea (something left for next time;-)) and focussed on the outdoor sculptures. Not that we saw them all; there are more then 200 of them!

We skipped this museum.

But we DID see the Olympic Flame!

Allow me to take you on a walk in the park:

Very interesting artwork, from various angles.

The variety in styles, color and size of all the sculptures is what makes it interesting, for me.

There are realistic sculptures, abstract, colorful, monocoloured, large and XXXXL, classic and contemporary….

Green, uh, yellow grass.

Outline art. I like this piece a lot!

This one is fantastic!

Fun, as if the ground is split open and folded back.

Upside AND downside.

Cool.

Huge pieces. For an idea of the scale, see Frits walking along one of the installations.

See us?

Airy dining set;-).

Mosaic bird head and beak.

Art with gas tanks.

Ofcourse this sculpture caught Frits’ attention.

You know what they say: “A dirty mind is a joy for ever!”. Right?

All the dislocated breasts did not go unnoticed by Frits either.

Hey, silver mirroring metal balls! Again…;-)! I wonder how many art works with silver balls there are in Seoul!

Nice art work!

A big thumbs up to Seoul’s Olympic Park and I highly recommend this place whenever you are in Seoul. If I would live there I would be a regular visitor for sure!

Gigantic thumb. Love it! One of the most photographed sculptures from the Olympic Park.

Have you visited this park? Did you like it? What is the best sculpture park you ever saw?