Writer: Aanchal Tekriwal (Godda, Jharkhand, India)

Editors: Tahoora Charfare (Fahaheel, Kuwait) and Pooja Vishwanathan (Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India)

Santorini of South Korea

One of the highlights of Busan is Gamcheon Culture Village, a row of brightly colored houses snuggled on the hillside overlooking the Sea of Japan. Gamcheon is a neighborhood of Saha-gu (gu district), one of the 15 districts that make up Busan, the second largest city in South Korea. This colorful village is renowned among tourists for its steep stairs, winding alleys, and charming houses. Here you can perceive that the creativity is in the air, as there are art pieces at each step of the village. This place has also been nicknamed as “Machu Picchu of Busan” and the “Santorini of South Korea” since it is built on a steep mountainside slope.

Gamcheon is a photographer’s, instagrammer’s, and blogger’s paradise with its polychromatic attractions that will make your jaw drop. This jewel of South Korea will make you lose yourself in the winding, beautiful alleys, stairways, and streets that burst with color. 

The Beginning

Looking at this artsy neighborhood now, it’s hard to imagine that this place’s history is deeply rooted in war, religion, and poverty. Gamcheon, or Gamregeol as it was originally called, was founded in the early 1900s by followers of the religion Taegukdo, and in the 1940s, approximately twenty and so clustered homes were built with scraps of iron, wood, and rocks in the hillside. In 1950, at the onset of the three-year Korean War, the North Korean Army pushed back U.N. forces near the southeastern tip of Korea.

The war refugees from all over the country flooded Busan, the provisional wartime capital, looking for safety, and then this city turned into a huge refugee camp. By 1951, the neighborhood became a shanty town settled with almost half a million refugees in addition to its original 88,2000 inhabitants.  

A Brief History

Change was brought by Cho Cholje (the founder of the religion Taegukdo) and his followers, who became community leaders. Lee Chang-ho, Gamcheon’s village leader and resident in the 1970s, said,

Cho Cholje and his followers told the refugees he would give them candy, toothbrushes, or rice if they believed in Taegukdo.

Gamcheon was, for the most part, a slum area for a long time, around the fifties. The refugees were really poor, and they truly needed something to believe in. The efforts put in by Cho and his followers to proselytize the refugees became very successful as 90% of the residents started practicing Taegukdo.  Even so, the village was built following the Taegukdo beliefs, which have set the foundation for the Gamcheon we see today. The houses were built on a tiered format such that no house is left in another’s shadow, which follows the principle called “you ought to allow your neighbor’s prosperity as well”. 

Contributions by the People

At the beginning of the year 2009, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism launched a project named “Dreaming of Machu Picchu in Busan” and awarded 100 million won (approximately $95000) to the residents of Gamcheon to revamp the slum village. The aim was to remodel the village into a creative, colorful art district, which will then be run by the residents, artists, and the local administrative office. The project was mostly completed by the end of 2010, and 3 other projects were also launched for 3 consecutive years.

The result is what is seen today: an art and theme café-drenched, enchanting, maze-like, vibrantly colored village that attracts tourists from all over the world. The art village project chose to preserve and rejuvenate the neighborhood instead of redeveloping it. The project also provides a variety of free services to the residents, such as shuttle buses, laundry facilities, public baths, house repair services, and more.

FUN FACTS

Fun fact: nearly 2 million visitors descend on the village every year. Now that you know the history, how about a little walking guide to the village? If you’d like, you can buy a map for maybe 2000KRW at the visitor center. The map shows pretty much every single point of interest in the village, including museums, art galleries, restaurants, cafes, houses built by famous architects, colorful, cool staircases, and so much more. Here’s one of the fun interactive points about the map: it has spaces for 12 stamps. You must be wondering now what about the stamp?

So you can collect the 12 stamps from designated places across the village. If you have collected enough stamps, you will receive 2 free postcards from any of the stamp posts, and don’t worry about the location of the stamps; you will find them on your map.

Places to Explore

Moving on, here are some of the things to do and places one shall see at Gamcheon Culture Village. Fish Swimming Through the Alley, Grand Budapest Doll Hotel, Tower of Solo Pleasure, Little Prince and Fennec Fox which is the most iconic selfie/instagram spot, Harry Potter stairs, 148 Stairs to See Stars, Gamcheon Sound Artwork, Hangeul Poem and House Area, Blue Sky Café, Murals and also not to forget the beautiful Message of Hope artwork. There’s so much more to this village, so when you visit, get yourself lost in the most charming place in South Korea. 

Do let us know in the comments section if we have convinced you enough to have Gamcheon Culture Village in your must-visit places in South Korea list!