SeaQrium at the National Marine Biodiversity Institute

The collection rises through the building

SeaQrium’s central object is the Tower of Life, an eight-storey glass structure almost 24 metres high filled with thousands of marine specimens from Korean waters. It turns the institute’s collecting work into something visible before a visitor reaches the main galleries

The wider museum holds more than 7,000 marine organisms and specimens. That scale matters because the displays are arranged by biological diversity rather than by a small set of headline animals. Algae, plankton, invertebrates and fish all receive space, giving the visit the logic of a research collection translated for the public

The tower also fixes the museum’s vertical character. It remains visible across the atrium while the exhibition route moves between floors, so the collection is never reduced to a back-room idea

Start high and work down through the sea

The most coherent route begins on the fourth floor. The first exhibition hall introduces marine diversity through preserved specimens and an interactive media wall, moving through algae, plankton, invertebrates and fish

One floor below, the emphasis shifts toward larger animals. The third-floor galleries cover marine mammals, sea turtles and seabirds, with whale skeletons among the most visually dominant exhibits. The change in scale is useful: visitors move from classification and variety into bodies large enough to make marine anatomy immediately legible

The first floor changes the pace again. A children’s experience gallery and ocean video room give younger visitors more direct forms of participation, while education rooms occupy the second floor. SeaQrium therefore works best as a descending sequence rather than a set of interchangeable galleries

A museum tied to Seocheon’s development story

The National Marine Biodiversity Institute opened in April 2015, but its origins reach back to a regional development dispute. When the planned Janghang industrial complex was reduced and delayed, local concern prompted central-government discussions over an alternative development package

In 2007, the government and Seocheon County signed a joint agreement, and construction of the institute followed from 2008 to 2013. The public museum eventually became one visible part of a larger research institution responsible for collecting, conserving and studying marine biological resources

SeaQrium was renovated and reopened in December 2023 with new LED media art. That update changed the public-facing layer, but the core identity remains specimen-led: this is a national research collection made physically accessible

Before you go

The permanent route begins on the fourth-floor biodiversity gallery, continues through the third-floor marine-animal exhibits and finishes with the first-floor children’s spaces

Free guided interpretation is offered from the first-floor information desk and focuses on the fourth- and third-floor permanent galleries. Audio guides are also available in Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese with a refundable deposit