The Silk Museum is located in Hamchang, Sangju City, which carries on the tradition of traditional silk. It consists of a permanent exhibition room, an experience exhibition room, and a video room, and you can feel the history of silk, the process of making it, and even the sincerity. 

The silkworm moth lays eggs. The newly hatched silkworm sleeps only four times for about 20 days and eagerly nibble on mulberry leaves. When the sound of eating crunchy mulberry leaves pours like a shower and then stops, the silkworm begins to build a cocoon to protect itself while preparing to become a pupa. After about 70 hours like that, the white cocoon is completed. The work of raising silkworms to produce cocoons is called sericulture, and the production of threads from silkworm cocoons is sericulture. It is said that the Jamsa people held a ancestral rite for the soul of the silkworm before hitting the silkworm in spring in early May. For the silkworm's soul! The beginning of sericulture on the Korean Peninsula is presumed to be in the Gojoseon era. From the era of the Three Kingdoms, the silk business was encouraged by the country, and during the Joseon Dynasty, the queen set an example of shearing silkworms and collecting cocoons. It's a long time. There is a place where you can see, touch, and feel such a long time at once. It is Sangju’s Hamchang.

#1. Hamchang Silk and Silk Museum

Sangju Hamchang is a basin in the upper reaches of the Nakdonggang River on the southern slope of the Sobaek Mountains and was the capital of the old Goryeong Gaya Kingdom. It has been famous for sericulture and silk since the Shilla Dynasty, and it is also the only place in the country where a traditional silk brewery is held every five days.

Sericulture was Korea's main export industry after the Japanese colonial era and after liberation. In the 1970s, Japan regulated the import of raw silk, which led to a crisis, and in the 1990s, as raw silk and fabrics from China were introduced en masse, the silk business faced a withering crisis. Currently, it is almost extinct. However, in Hamchang, silk is still produced in the traditional way. By using the principle of hand-weaving silk thread soaked in water, the traditional silk width of 15 inches is maintained to create very dense and fine-grained high-quality silk. This is the only and largest in the country. The amount of production is small as it insists on the traditional method, but about 50 households still produce 120,000 pills a year, about 30% of the nationwide. Its annual income alone reaches 7.2 billion won. In Hamchang, which is still carrying on the tradition of traditional silk, there is a silk museum.

Silk Museum representing the home of sericulture

Equipped with permanent exhibition room, experience room, video theater, etc.

Easy-to-understand explanations on thread drawing, loom weaving, etc.

Even now, 50 households produce 120,000 pieces a year.

A giant silkworm is eating mulberry leaves on the roof of the Myeongju Museum. In the front yard, a woman sits on her loom and weaves silk. This is a summary of the birth of Myeongju. There is a 150-year-old mountain mulberry tree in the backyard of the museum. This is a very old mulberry tree that grows in Waxagol, Daejo-ri, Hamchang. It is said that it is a tree that allowed ancestors to safely cross the barley hill and provided school fees. The tree was donated to the museum here in 2013 and is still living in good health.

The Myeongju Museum consists of a permanent exhibition hall, an experience exhibition hall, and a video room. Upon entering the museum, you can see very old black and white photos related to sericulture. Next to it, there is a doll model that allows you to easily understand the process of spinning silk cocoons, winding silk bundles, and weaving silk looms. On the other hand, various products made of Hamchang silk are on display, showing how natural roughness and elegant classical beauty can coexist.

In the experience exhibition room, various props made of silk, such as pins, wallets, and mirrors, are displayed. In addition, you can learn in detail the operation sequence of weaving silk together with the actual loom. In the permanent exhibition room, the history and origin of the jam industry in Korea is first presented. Facing the woman sitting on the loom, going deeper into the exhibition room, she sees a nice dress in navy and blue hanging in the middle. The upper color means bluish yellow when the mulberry leaves first appear. This fancy dress is the queen's 'romantic dress'. In the old palace, the queen personally had a 'Chinjamrye', an event to produce silkworms and silk, and at that time, she was wearing the clothes she wore. In addition to this, you can see various types and uses of silk thread, and various tools used in sericulture and the overall business. It is an exhibition where you can feel the history of silk and the sincerity of its production.

At the Silkworm Insect Experience Center, you can see how silkworms make cocoons depending on the season, and you can also touch silkworms and rhinoceros beetles. 

The Hanbok Promotion Institute, located within the Hamchang Silk Theme Park, has an exhibition and promotion center, a convergence industry research center, and a training school. 

#2. Hamchang Pearl Theme Park

The low hill behind the Myeongju Museum is the Rose Park. There are 40,000 roses of 20 species planted in the park, and a million roses bloom during the flower season. If you follow the trail along the 150-year-old wild mulberry tree, you will reach the pavilion on the hill of Rose Park. Looking down from there, facilities related to Hamchang silk, such as the Hanbok Promotion Institute, the Gyeongbuk Jamsa Insect Center, and processing and production facilities, are spread out in harmony with the maple forest road, outdoor stage, rest area, plaza, stream, and jokgu field. It is 'Hamchang Myeongju Theme Park'.

The Hanbok Promotion Institute is a place that revitalizes the Hanbok industry based on traditional textiles and enhances the international competitiveness of Hanbok. It consists of an exhibition promotion hall, a convergence industry research hall, and a training school, and is scheduled to open this month. As for processing production facilities, there is 'Jongsu Textile', which was selected as a 'local root company' in 2013. Jangsu Textile is a company that has been engaged in the silk business for the fourth generation and has maintained its tradition for over a hundred years. Although mechanization has progressed a lot in modern times, the traditional tenure system still remains.

Hamchang Myeongju Theme Park

Entered the Hanbok Promotion Institute and the silk business

In early May every year, a windbreak prayer ceremony is held in front of Jamnyeongtap

Create a rose park with millions of flowers

Although not located within the theme park, 'Heossi Silk' in Odong-ri, Hamchang-eup is also carrying on traditional silk weaving for the fifth generation. Heo's silk has been passed down as a domestic handicraft industry, but in 1988 it was developed into a company and was selected as a local root company in 2019. Jamsil, a room for silkworms of Heosi silk, is also an industrial heritage with high preservation value. Sericulture tools that have been used for generations are on display, and a sericulture experience program using them is also operated.

The Gyeongbuk Jamsa Insect Plant is performing various tasks such as production and distribution of excellent silkworm seeds, systemic conservation of silkworm genetic resources, joint breeding and supply of silkworms, functional sericulture industry test research and development, and industrialization of useful insect resources. The places that are open to the general public are the Insect Ecology Exhibition Hall and Silkworm Insect Experience Center. In the Insect Ecology Exhibition Hall, the evolutionary process of insects, the ecology of insects in the ground, in the water, and in the forest, and various specimens are displayed, and various experience and educational programs such as insect specimen making are conducted. At the Silkworm Insect Experience Center, you can see how silkworms make cocoons depending on the season, and you can also touch silkworms and rhinoceros beetles. The silkworm and cabbage white butterfly insect breeding kits supplied here are especially popular.

In front of the Silkworm Insect Experience Center, there is a large stone tower engraved with 'Jamryeong'. It's 'The Sleeping Tower'. Sleeping spirit means the soul of silkworm. Every year in early May, a ritual is held for the spirit of the silkworm in front of this pagoda. It is a wind jam prayer ceremony to comfort the soul of a silkworm that has not spread its wings and to pray for prosperity in the sericulture industry. The tower reaches 3.55m in height and is the largest and most magnificent among all the hidden pagodas in the country. Originally, this Jamnyeongtap was first built in 1930 in Suseong 4-ga-dong, Daegu. It was moved to Bokryong-dong, Sangju-si in 1962, and moved to its current location in 2013, where it was designated as an industrial heritage.

Georgyu, the writer of the novel '25 o'clock', left behind a prose poem 'Hymn to Korea' while visiting Korea in 1984. There is something like this. 'Dangun taught Koreans how to cultivate the Cudrania mulberry tree and weave. (Omitted) Korean silk was like the clothes of a fairy. When Mongolian nomads invaded Korea, they saw Korean women wearing colorful silk clothes and called Korea the land of rainbows.'

▨Reference = Encyclopedia of Korean National Culture, Academy of Korean Studies website, Dictionary of Korean Seasonal Customs, Sangju website.

Free admission to the Myeongju Museum… Open 9am - 6pm 

■Tip 

Hamchang Silk Museum is open from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. It is closed on January 1, Lunar New Year's Day, and Chuseok, and admission is free. The Insect Ecology Exhibition Center and Silkworm Insect Experience Center at the Gyeongbuk Jamsa Insect Plant are open from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm, and are closed on Mondays. When body temperature is measured, admission is restricted to those with a temperature of 37.5℃ or higher, and simultaneous viewing by more than 20 people is prohibited.