Wonju Hanji Theme Park
Wonju’s permanent center for hanji history, craft and contemporary paper art, built after the city’s traditional paper industry had already contracted sharply from its late-20th-century scale
Traditional craft, paper-making, material culture, contemporary hanji art, family workshops and visitors interested in Wonju’s local industry
A main museum building and outdoor park with a hanji history room, paper-making and craft spaces, rotating exhibitions and grounds used for larger cultural events
Wonju Hanji Theme Park gives a craft whose local factory base shrank sharply a permanent institutional home. Paper history, hands-on making and contemporary hanji art share a site created after many of the old factories had disappeared
Character
In 1991, Wonju still had 15 hanji factories around Dangu-dong. The city now says two remain near Usan-dong, a steep contraction for a place long associated with dak mulberry, clean water and traditional Korean paper
Wonju Hanji Theme Park grew from the effort to keep that craft visible after its industrial base weakened. Its history room explains hanji and its manufacturing process; the experience room brings visitors into paper-making and craft; upstairs exhibitions move the same material into contemporary art
That material history is local. Wonju’s city records connect hanji to dak trees that grew across the surrounding fields and hills, even preserving the character for mulberry in old place names. Clean water also mattered because the fibers were repeatedly washed during production
The experience
The history room connects finished hanji to dak fiber and the sequence of making it. Nearby hands-on programs turn the same material tradition into practical craft
Rotating exhibitions extend hanji beyond historical use into contemporary paper art. The park also serves the city’s hanji cultural programming, turning a craft once supported by a much larger factory network into a year-round museum and workshop experience
Most of the visit sits inside one main building beside an outdoor park. The galleries and workshops are concentrated indoors; the grounds provide space for larger public events
History
Wonju’s hanji industry survived well into the late 20th century. The city records a local hanji association founded in 1973, the export of Wonju-made hanji to Japan in 1975, and 15 factories around Dangu-dong as late as 1991
Mass-produced wood-pulp paper steadily displaced traditional sheets from many everyday uses. Wonju responded by building public activity around the craft through exhibitions, education, workshops and the annual Hanji Cultural Festival
The permanent Theme Park was planned from 2007, construction began in 2008, and it opened in September 2010. The city built it as infrastructure for both hanji culture and industry, giving those activities a fixed year-round base after much of the old manufacturing network had disappeared
The main building was remodeled in 2024, while the park continued to operate as a single-building museum and outdoor event site
Before you go
Hands-on making is programmed separately from ordinary gallery viewing. The main building can be visited as a museum without joining a workshop
The first-floor history room is free. Second-floor exhibitions are generally free as well, although individual exhibitions can set a separate admission charge
- Hours
- Open 09:00–18:00. Closed Mondays, Jan 1, and the Seollal and Chuseok holiday periods. The art shop and experience room list a 12:00–13:00 lunch break
- Admission
- The 1F Hanji History Room is free. The 2F planned-exhibition room is generally free; individual exhibitions may set a separate admission charge