Gwangju(Seo-gu)

Pungam Reservoir was originally built in 1956 for agriculture, but was turned into a park in 1999 as part of the pilot program for developing parks nationwide. It is a popular resting area featuring traditional pavilions and wooden bridges.


Gwangju(Seo-gu)

Hotel The May, located in Seo-gu, Gwangju, is situated near Gwangju City Hall, attracting many business guests, as well as a cinema, supermarket, hospital and other convenient facilities. In addition, the 5.18 Memorial Park, which displays photos and information about the Gwangju democratization movement of May 18, 1980, is situated right next to the hotel. Visitors are recommended to try Gwangju’s special dishes such as tteokgalbi (grilled short rib patties), yukjeon(beef pancakes), Jeollanam-do-style table d’hote, and hongeo samhap (fermented skate and steamed pork slices served with kimchi).


Gwangju(Dong-gu)

About a kilometer to the right from the main entrance of Hotel Mudeung Park (무등파크호텔), there is the famous Korean hanjeongsik (Korean table d'hote) restaurant called Myeongseonheon. To maintain the freshness of the food, the restaurant runs on specific business hours (12:00-14:00 for lunch, 17:00-22:00 for dinner) However, the timing may vary by seasons. The table setting is neat and the food is served in a hearty manner. Also, the food is served by course to allow each dish to be appreciated at the right temperature. The traditional hanjeongsik comes with 30 or so dishes that include gulbi-gui (grilled corvina), hongeo-hoe (raw skewed skate), galchi-jorim (braised cutlessfishl), bossam-kimchi (wrapped kimchi with steamed pork), and jeotgal (salted seafood), and each dish is prepared with great care.


Gwangju(Gwangsan-gu)

Songjeong is famous for its tteokgalbi (grilled short rib meat patties), which is one of the five best food items of Gwangju. There are many tteokgalbi restaurants around Gwangsan district office, but Songjeong’s history goes back to 1976 and it is still the original.A good tteokgalbi is made by mixing the meat of beef short ribs and pork bone ribs in a one-to-one ratio and adding acacia honey to make the meat both tender and chewy. The dish is also reasonably priced. The secret to the delicious meat is the sauce, which is made with about 20 natural ingredients like kelp, radish, and green onion and no artificial seasonings. Also a pride of the restaurant is the broth made from pork bones which comes with the tteokgalbi.


Gwangju(Dong-gu)

With a proud 20-year history, Arirang House is famous for its kimchi, which won a prize at the first Kimchi Festival. In 2003, the restaurant collaborated with Shilla Hotel and Paradise Hotel and successfully hosted a royal cuisine demonstration event, contributing to the promotion of Korean cuisine. Arirang House serves delicious Korean cuisine in an elegant style. The food is carefully prepared by 11 chefs, including the chef who has thirty years of experience. The kitchen is divided into the side dish team, the special dish team, and the main course team to prepare a total of thirty or so specialized dishes. The flavors are enhanced by using only the freshest natural ingredients and not using any artificial seasonings. Prices vary by course, and each course comes with raw beef, samhap (a combination of three special foods), assorted raw fish, and steamed short ribs. The bossam kimchi (kimchi with slices of steamed pork) is also one of their specialties.


Gwangju(Gwangsan-gu)

Located in Gwangju City, the Banana Hotel offers various convenient services including 24-hour room service and a clean environment. All the guestrooms are well-equipped, including WiFi, and the hotel provides foreign language services, too. As the hotel is only 10 minutes’ drive from Mudeungsan Mountain National Park, many tourists visit the area. In addition, the hotel is just ten minutes’ drive from the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall and 20 minutes’ drive from Metasequoia Road and the Juknokwon Bamboo Garden in Damyang County.


Gwangju(Buk-gu)

Gwangju Culture & Art Center is located in the northeast of Gwangju-si and includes a range of representative cultural pieces from ancient times to the modern era. The Art Center is affiliated with several museums nearby including the Gwangju National Museum, Jungoe Park, the Municipal Folk Museum, and the Gwangju Museum of Art. The 4,145-pyeong / 13,700 square-meter center consists of a main stage for performance art, 10 practice rooms, 8 electrical rooms, an auditorium with 1,792 seats and over 600 pyeongs / 1,983 square meters of lobby space. The center, as a performance art hall complex, supports all types of art including opera, ballet, modern dance, theater, and Korean traditional opera. It is set amidst the beautiful Unamsan Mountain area and serves as a soothing getaway for urbanites.


Gwangju(Buk-gu)

Gwangju Biennale is an international contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years. Taking place in 2014, the event marks 10th anniversay and will celebrate the importance of being together though the theme of “Burning Down the House (터전을 불태우라).” It will bring together many different people, different times, various roles in arts production, and numerous different positions toward power such as exist  in various social, political, and cultural situations. The biennale consists of an exhibition, several workshops, e-journals, books, and various programs such as residency programs and new commissions. [About the 2014's theme] Burning Down the Houseexplores the process of burning and transformation, a cycle of obliteration and renewal witnessed throughout history. Evident in aesthetics, historical events, and an increasingly rapid course of redundancy and renewal in commercial culture, the Biennale reflects on this process of, often violent, events of destruction or self-destruction―burning the home one occupies―followed by the promise of the new and the hope for change. In the 1930s the critic Walter Benjamin coined the term ‘Tigersprung’ (the tiger’s leap) for a new model of history where the past is activated in and through the present within a culture industry that demands constant renewal. What can the ‘Tigerspung’ mean for today’s ‘tiger economies’ like South Korea in a context where economic and political powers deliver the eternally new of fashionable commodities and industrial progress at the apparent expense of a cultural past? Burning Down the House looks at the spiral of rejection and revitalization that this process implies. The theme highlights the capacity of art to critique the establishment through an exploration that includes the visual, sound, movement and dramatic performance. At the same time, it recognises the possibility and impossibility within art to deal directly and concretely with politics. The energy, the materiality and processes of burning ― the manner in which material is changed and destroyed by flames into the residue of dramatic interventions or remnants of celebrations ― have long informed artistic practice. The transformative powers of fire are central to the way in which this exhibition has been imagined. -Courtesy of Gwangju Biennale Foundation  


Gwangju(Seo-gu)

The 5·18 Memorial Park was established to remember the May 18 Democratization Movement. Covering an area of 204,985㎡, the park houses various historical and cultural facilities, including the 5·18 Library, 5·18 Cultural Center, Education Center, Daedong Plaza, Owoldae Tower, and other memorial sculpture and monuments. The park is also home to Mugaksa Temple and walking paths.


Gwangju(Seo-gu)

Jonggajip Seolleongtang is the first traditional Seoul-style seolleongtang restaurant in Gwangju. All the dishes are made of 100% pure beef bone stock and top quality ingredients for the best taste and nutrition.