[News Culture] Museums, hanok villages, performance venues and outdoor libraries across Seoul will offer a broad slate of cultural programs during the four-day Chuseok holiday, with events ranging from traditional games and craft workshops to pansori, dance, exhibitions and evening reading programs.
From Sept. 24 to 27, the city’s cultural institutions will operate family programs, performances and exhibitions at venues including Unhyeongung Palace, Namsangol Hanok Village and municipal museums. The holiday schedule also overlaps with the opening period of the 2026 Seoul Autumn Festa, while the Seoul Outdoor Library will extend programming into the evening.
Chuseok Programs at Hanok Villages and Museums
Unhyeongung Palace will hold a four-day Chuseok program from Sept. 24 to 27, offering traditional games, craft activities and performances between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. The lineup includes gugak, fusion gugak and Korean dance.
The Seoul Museum of Korean Folk Music will run “Under the Full Moon, A Festival of Korean Sounds” over the same period, with traditional games, a full-moon-themed activity and a holiday photo area. On Sept. 24, additional programs will include calligraphy featuring Chuseok greetings, gugak performances and a ganggangsullae session.
Namsangol Hanok Village will present “Namsan Moonlight Courtyard” from Sept. 25 to 27. The program will feature tightrope walking, Arirang and other traditional music performances, along with seven hands-on activities including quilting crafts, hanbok wearing and traditional braided hairstyles. Programs explaining the meaning of Chuseok food and ancestral ritual tables are also scheduled.
On Sept. 26, Seoul Baekje Museum will hold its Chuseok Grand Celebration, featuring samulnori, Bukcheong lion-mask dance, a jegichagi competition and a Baekje-themed quiz event. Visitors will also be able to make ray-shaped kites and mother-of-pearl spinning tops, pound rice cakes and take part in traditional games.
Seoul Museum of History will host a separate Chuseok program on the same day, with gugak busking, traditional farming activities and weaving games. Craft sessions will include making full-moon wish lanterns, folk paintings and knotted coasters, while seesaw jumping, tuho, jegichagi and Korean chess will be available throughout the event.
At the Seoul Urban Life Museum, “Culture Flows Through the Museum” will run from 1 to 5 p.m., featuring a magic balloon show, fusion gugak, traditional games and a workshop for making wooden lucky pouches.
Seoul Autumn Festa Continues Through the Holiday
Several performing arts programs are also scheduled during the holiday as part of the 2026 Seoul Autumn Festa, which runs from Sept. 18 through Nov. 29 and brings together performances and festivals held across the city.
Seoul Donhwamun Traditional Theater will stage outdoor gugak concerts at 3 and 5 p.m. on Sept. 24 and 25. The free performances will feature emerging traditional music artists and do not require advance reservations.
The fourth World Pansori Festival will take place Sept. 25 and 26 at Namsangol Hanok Village and Seoul Namsan Gukakdang. The festival focuses on pansori while also presenting other forms of traditional Korean performance, with free programs running from 1 to 6:30 p.m.
The World Dance Festival, a side program of the 35th National Dance Festival, will be held at Seoul Nori Madang at 6 p.m. on Sept. 24. International dance companies will perform on an outdoor stage, with additional parades and performances scheduled at Seokchon Lake, GTX Yeonsin 849 Square and Banpo Hangang Park.
Outdoor Libraries Stay Open Into the Evening
The Seoul Outdoor Library will operate at Seoul Plaza, Gwanghwamun Square and along Cheonggyecheon Stream from Sept. 25 to 27, with each location open daily from 4 to 10 p.m.
In addition to open-air reading, each site will host separate literary and cultural programs. Seoul Plaza is scheduled to screen films including “F1: The Movie” on a large LED display during the holiday period.
Reading-focused programs will also be held across the three venues. On Sept. 25, writer Kim Dong-yeon will join a talk at Gwanghwamun Square, while the Cheonggyecheon site will host a headphone-based reading session in which participants record passages that stand out to them.
A family pajama reading program is scheduled for Sept. 26, followed by a Sept. 27 session with poet Ko Seon-gyeong.
Exhibitions Across Seoul’s Museums and Galleries
Visitors focusing on exhibitions during the holiday will also find major shows across the Seoul Museum of Art network.
At the Seosomun Main Branch, “Yoo Youngkuk: A Mountain Within Me” marks the 110th anniversary of the artist’s birth and examines the development of his abstract painting practice.
Photography Seoul Museum of Art is presenting “Martin Parr: We Are Martin Parr,” a large-scale retrospective of the British photographer.
Other exhibitions include “Sook Jin Jo: That’s How the Light Gets In” at Nam-Seoul Museum of Art, “Inhwan Oh vs. Seo Young Chang: Human Error” at Buk-Seoul Museum of Art and “Kim Heecheon: Moles” at Seo-Seoul Museum of Art. Art Archives Seoul Museum of Art is also presenting an exhibition devoted to artist Oh Yoon and his work.
Seoul Museum of History is showing exhibitions on the development of Seoul’s urban planning and the history of defending the capital, alongside interactive exhibitions including “1932 Gyeongseong: Become a Secret Agent” and a museum treasure hunt centered on a portable angbuilgu, a traditional Korean sundial.
Seoul Museum of Craft Art is presenting an exhibition featuring the winning and finalist works from the second Seoul Glass Craft Award, as well as “Equinox: Autumn Equinox_Spring Equinox,” a special exhibition surveying 40 years of work by Jang Eung-bok. Discounts on selected museum shop products and exhibition catalogs will continue through Sept. 27.
Cultural Venues Expand Chuseok Programming Across the City
This year’s Chuseok cultural schedule covers a wide range of formats, from family-oriented traditional games and craft workshops to performing arts, exhibitions and public reading programs.
Museums and hanok villages are concentrating much of their programming on activities tied directly to the holiday, while the Seoul Autumn Festa and ongoing exhibitions add performances and visual arts to the four-day schedule.
With many venues operating across both daytime and evening hours, the holiday program is structured to allow visitors to combine museum visits, performances and outdoor cultural events over the course of the break.
Reported by News Culture M.J._mj94070777@nc.press
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