Welcome to the Buan Celadon Museum!
The Buan region is known for the inlaid celadon that was made here about 1,000 years ago, during the Goryeo Dynasty, and which is reputed to be one of the best ceramics in the world. Opened in 2011, the Buan Celadon Museum was established as a three-storied building, with a land area of 69,452㎡ and a total floor area of 5,610㎡, by restoring and maintaining various national historical sites including Goryeo celadon kiln sites and relics.
The museum consists of two buildings – the exhibition building, which is used mainly to hold exhibitions, and the building on its left, which houses a special experience space where visitors to the museum can actually try their hand at producing celadon.

So if you have the time, why not try making your own celadon with the help of an artisan’s one-to-one explanation. It will be a truly worthwhile experience.

Now, in the park on the right of the museum, can you see the building with a semicircular wooden roof? Inside that building is a kiln site where Goryeo celadon was baked about 800 years ago. When it was discovered during an excavation conducted by the Museum of Wonkwang University in 1998, it was found that the arch-shaped ceiling of the kiln had been damaged, so only the furnace which was used to bake celadon and a part of the firing chamber remain at present. If you have enough time, we recommend you take a walk around the site.
Now, shall we discover the Goryeo celadon with its mysterious autumnal sky blue color at the Buan Celadon Museum?
As you were entering the museum, did you notice the shape of the building?
It features a unique design that takes the shape of a cup. In fact, our museum building was designed after the shape of the Bowl, celadon with inlaid chrysanthemun and scroll design (National Treasure No.115), that was excavated from the tomb of an eminent Goryeo official named Moon Gong-yu. The building was designed this way to represent the high-quality celadon that used to be made in Yucheon-ri in Buan, and the external wall was coated with oxide copper to represent celadon’s green color.


Explanation About the Glass Entrance Door

This entrance door is made with a special glass that was fabricated by gluing pieces of broken glass together to express the fine cracks on the surface of Goryeo celadon. Speaking in technical terms, it is ‘glazing cracking’ which indicates that the surface of the glaze is cracked like broken ice. These fine cracks occur mainly for two reasons. First, it often happened when, after baking the pottery in a kiln at a high temperature of about 1,250℃, the kiln door was opened and cold air flowed into the kiln before the temperature of the kiln had completely cooled down. This caused thick and irregular cracks to appear on the surface of the glaze. The other reason is due to a problem resulting from the combination of kaolin and glaze. In other words, when baking pottery at a high temperature, if the percentage of contraction between the glaze and the clay is not exactly the same - and even a tiny difference of 0.1% can cause a breach between them – this difference in contraction inside the cooled kiln will cause the glaze to crack. In this case, fine and regular cracks would appear on the entire surface of the pottery.

Technically speaking, when baking Korean kaolin over a fire, it shrinks by 15 to 20%, so it is not a great material for making celadon. The fact that Goryeo’s potters made such excellent celadon despite this disadvantage only serves to highlight their outstanding techniques and artistry.


Museum Exhibition Guide

Our museum’s exhibition rooms are situated on the first and second floors. We recommend you take a lift to visit the Celadon History Room, where you can appreciate a wide range of genuine celadon in the Celadon Masterpiece Room on the second floor first, and then go down to the first floor to visit the Celadon Production Room, Celadon Experience Room, and 4D Theater.