100 photographs of Jongno · Jonggak to Jongno 3-ga
Jongno, where we used to meet
Meet me at Jonggak. A film, then dinner down an alley. Shops and people we thought would always be there remain in photographs. Walk back through Jongno, from 1972 to 2009.
Return to 19721970s · Digging the road, reshaping the city
The ground opens for a subway. Roads widen and the bell pavilion grows taller. Our journey begins with the making of a familiar Jongno.
Opening the ground beneath Jongno
A subway excavation runs beside the buses. Beneath the familiar avenue, a vast new space is taking shape.
Before the trains arrived
Earth and steel fill the future route between Jongno 3-ga and Jonggak. This is the underground journey before it became routine.
A broad Jonggak intersection
The single-storey pavilion and buses stand beyond a broad junction. Sky and road open wide between the still-low buildings.
Making room for a wider road
Demolition debris lines the road. A wider avenue also meant a changing edge to the city.
A bus passing Hwashin
The department store and an old bus share the view beyond the roadside park. Even the shape of the bus windows places us in another time.
Low rooftops behind Jongno 3-ga
Behind the traffic-filled avenue, small roofs crowd together. Main road and backstreet seem to move at different speeds.
Bosingak among buses and wires
Overhead wires cross the road, with the small bell pavilion on the right. Compare this junction with the one you remember.
When Bosingak had one storey
The low pavilion looks unfamiliar beside today's two-storey form. Two passers-by give its modest scale a human measure.
A taller pavilion, a year later
Think back to the 1978 photograph. Bosingak now has two roof levels, while people continue along the pavement in front.
A bell pavilion among the buildings
From above, the pavilion's enclosure sits beside tightly packed shops. A city landmark was also part of an ordinary working street.
Another street below Jongno
Bright corridors and glass shopfronts stretch through the new underground arcade. Crossing the avenue and browsing shops meet beneath the road.
1980s · Youth gathered in these alleys
The city spreads beyond low rooftops. In 1988, crowds fill Gwancheol-dong’s Street of Youth. It is the people, as much as the buildings, that define the time.
Trees around Bosingak
The archive records this view after landscaping work. Trees begin to soften the edges of the pavilion and its busy junction.
Tapgol Park and Nakwon from above
Nakwon Arcade stretches behind the green park. From this height, the connections between familiar streets become visible.
Jongno stretching into 1983
Buses follow the avenue between buildings of different heights. This long urban line will reappear throughout the photographs ahead.
On the pavement in Olympic year
People wearing campaign sashes walk along Jongno. Their clothes and the surrounding pedestrians make the year feel close.
An entrance to the Street of Youth
Beneath lettering for the Seoul Olympics, a festival gateway spans the road. Gwancheol-dong itself seems to welcome the crowd.
Meet me by Jonggak Hats
People approach between a hat shop and café signs. A shop name like this might once have been all the directions a friend needed.
A festival filling the alley
Heads fill the space where cars would pass. It is striking how many people this small street could hold.
The festival left traces underfoot
Flags hang overhead and scraps of paper scatter across the street. The excitement of the day lingers around the shopfronts.
A stage beneath the shop signs
Spectators gather around a performance with storefront signs behind them. The alley briefly becomes a stage and an auditorium.
Looking in the same direction
A festival banner rises beyond hats and shoulders. For someone in this crowd, the day may have become a lasting memory.
1990s · Films, music and meetings in Jongno
Past Dansungsa, a pause at Tower Records, then into the alleys after class. Among familiar buses and signs, Jongno Tower rises into view.
Reading Gwancheol-dong through its signs
Coffee shops, beer halls and bars stack their signs along the lane. The walls offer a whole evening's worth of possible meeting places.
Fortunes written on a cloth screen
A naming and fortune-telling stall in Nakwon-dong advertises with letters and drawings. A small cloth screen can hold a neighbourhood's character.
Traffic in front of Dansungsa
Buses and cars pass the cinema. A trip to the movies also meant crossing a noisy, busy street like this one.
Jongno under construction again
Subway works fill this 1996 view. Set against the opening photograph from 1972, it reminds us that a city is never built all at once.
Hoardings where Hwashin once stood
Construction hoardings surround the former department store site. Pause here before Jongno Tower enters the later photographs.
The road towards Nakwon
Nakwon Arcade appears beneath a taller building as traffic turns through the junction. This is another familiar view beside Tapgol Park.
A small market by the park wall
Someone has laid goods on the pavement, and a passer-by pauses. Life moves at a slower pace just outside the park.
An afternoon under the trees
Small groups gather inside the park. Away from the traffic, the day passes at the pace of a standing conversation.
Billboards above the junction
Rooftop advertisements rise above the crossing traffic. Even a mobile-phone brand could become part of the memory of a street.
Schools and shops across the crossing
Academy and shop signs cover the buildings opposite. The scene brings to mind the walk into the alleys after class.
Turning towards Insa-dong
Looking north from the avenue, waiting cars share the scene with signs of every size. A small turn reveals a different street.
An elevated road before Namsan
Namsan Tower rises in the distance, with an elevated road closer by. The layers of the city change even when the viewing direction stays familiar.
At the gate of Tapgol Park
People come and go under the tiled roof. A gate can be the start of a walk, or a place to wait for somebody.
A building site between old roofs
Construction sits among low buildings. This unfinished view makes change feel more immediate than a completed new tower might.
Pagers, video rooms and karaoke
A pager dealer, video rooms and karaoke signs share one alley. Reading their names can bring back an evening spent here with friends.
Light falling across Tapgol Park
People linger between tree shadows and low sunlight. Among photographs of rapid change, this afternoon seems to pause.
A queue of buses on Jongno
Buses in different liveries fill the junction. If one colour brings back your old route, your own Jongno may be close to this scene.
Following the menus in Cheongjin-dong
Restaurant boards fill the lane with names and dishes. Even without knowing the way, a favourite meal could guide you.
Still an avenue full of buses
Jongno in the summer of 1999. The signs change, but the dense traffic retains a familiar rhythm.
A new outline at the end of the street
The open-looking top of Jongno Tower stands out from afar. A site seen behind hoardings a few years earlier now changes the whole view.
Looking up at Jongno Tower
Curved glass rises towards a seemingly floating crown. The building draws the eye up from the street signs.
Small streets behind big buildings
Signs and doorways crowd this Jongno 9-gil alley. The city seen from above has always differed from the city walked on foot.
Summer outside the language school
A bus passes the Sisa language-school building and its colourful neighbours. For former students, this view may bring back the class timetable.
Roofs and cranes around Gukilgwan
A redevelopment site sits beside low rooftops. The scale of the old lanes and the coming building is visible in one frame.
Summer clothes outside Burger King
People in short sleeves pass beneath the red sign. Everyday clothes can bring an era closer than a major event.
Waiting a moment outside the pizza place
Pedestrians pass beneath the Pizza Hut sign. This pavement invites memories of deciding whether to eat first or see a film.
Stopping outside Tower Records
Yellow walls, red lettering and album posters on the doors. The entrance holds a memory of going into a shop to choose music.
Along the jewellery shopfronts
People walk beneath signs for jewellery and precious metals. For some, glass display cases are the first memory of Jongno 3-ga.
A junction of signs behind the YMCA
Restaurant and karaoke signs crowd a small crossing. Inside the alley, a dense collection of names takes over from the avenue.
A thin strip of sky above the signs
Buildings and projecting signs leave only a sliver of sky. Even a lane barely wide enough for two people holds many businesses.
A bowl of noodles for 3,000 won
A large sign advertises the price of kalguksu. A number in an old photograph can make an everyday meal feel vividly present.
The word “beer” on a wooden wall
A wooden façade and small eaves sit at an alley corner. Two Korean syllables can evoke the scene at the end of a working day.
Making room in a narrow passage
A person approaches between a low wall and a restaurant. Memories of Jongno can live in these narrow gaps as much as on the broad avenue.
A pavement stall under a parasol
A small stall occupies the pavement outside the shops. A summer afternoon lingers between the display and the passing crowd.
A new building behind the crowd
The pavement remains busy, but the skyline behind it has changed. Ordinary street life and urban transformation share the frame.
A place to sit for a while
People sit side by side at a small Gwancheol-dong shelter. Walking through Jongno also meant moments spent waiting for someone.
An alley transformed by its lights
Illuminated signs lead into the dark lane. By evening, the lunchtime restaurant street becomes another place to meet.
Lunch written on the wall
Soup, soft tofu and bibimbap fill a wall menu. A single board speaks for the alley's everyday lunch hour.
Bottle crates and a delivery bicycle
Drink crates stack against a Pimatgol wall beside a bicycle. Behind the signs customers saw was the daily work that kept the alley running.
A pager advertisement above the city
The huge sign reads “01577 Happy Tel” and advertises pagers. A rooftop billboard preserves an object from the days of waiting to be contacted.
Walking beneath the haejangguk signs
People walk below the soup-shop signs of Cheongjin-dong. Which name would have guided you here for a bowl of soup?
Shopping bags through Pimatgol
Signs overlap above a person walking through the narrow lane. Before it became a memory, the old alley was somebody's everyday route.
Cineart and T-Zone in one building
Film posters and an electronics-store sign share a façade. A weekend could move from watching a movie to browsing new gadgets.
Shop names leading into the lane
Pub and restaurant signs pull the eye along the street. Perhaps this was a lane to browse when you arrived early for a meeting.
Signs stacked above a dakgalbi shop
Restaurant and bar names fill floor after floor. Dinner, a drink and the next meeting all seem possible on this one corner.
2000s · A changing city, lingering alleys
Giant film billboards and small rice-cake shops. Glass towers and worn wooden doors. Old and new share a frame, and streets that feel like yesterday become historical photographs.
The first winter of 2000 outside Dansungsa
Snow at the pavement's edge and passing cars set the winter scene. The new year begins on a familiar route to the cinema.
When film billboards filled a building
Giant movie advertisements cover Dansungsa's front. A film could catch your attention in the street before you ever checked a showtime.
Pimatgol lit by its signs
Restaurant signs glow sharply out of the dark. Shop lights, as well as street lamps, once showed the way through the night.
Meeting Bosingak at its steps
Stone steps and red pillars come into view at the pavilion's front. A landmark used to find your way becomes a building to look at closely.
Jongno Tower above an old roof
The tower rises behind Bosingak's tiles. Old and new Jongno do more than replace one another: sometimes they stand in the same view.
A performance where traffic usually flowed
A performance at the March 1 car-free street festival turns the road into a stage. The familiar traffic scene gives way to an audience.
Pausing at the election posters
Candidates' portraits and numbers line a car-park wall. The street becomes a noticeboard to stop and read on the way past.
The doorway of an old bank
Sunlight and shadow divide the entrance of the former Commercial Bank branch. Stone columns and doors can outlast the names above them.
The YMCA between avenue and alley
Shop signs line the base of the YMCA building. Facing the avenue and backing onto food lanes, it anchors the surrounding streets.
A changing city underfoot by Cheonggyecheon
Workers lay paving and reshape the street. Large changes in a city often begin with hands at work and one stone underfoot.
Crossing Jongno 2-ga in 2005
People in summer clothes cross the junction. Compare their clothes, the cars and the building signs with the photographs from a decade earlier.
Jongno from above again
Buildings crowd both sides of the long avenue. Recall the road in 1983 and the years accumulated along it become visible.
Looking beyond Nakwon Arcade
The arcade, surrounding neighbourhoods and distant ridgelines share one frame. Familiar small streets add up to a much larger city.
A different face of the street
A car-free-street notice stands among shops and vehicles. Jongno was a route to pass through, but sometimes also a place to stay and enjoy.
The road beneath Nakwon Arcade
The road passes under the arcade, with small shops on either side. Building and street overlap in this distinctive Nakwon-dong view.
Walking towards the mouth of Pimatgol
A person walks from the dim alley towards the bright street. The change in light feels greater than the short distance between the two.
Time along a wooden wall
A low wooden façade stretches along Pimatgol. Time remains here in a different material and at a different pace from the glass towers outside.
Tiled eaves and a yellow menu board
A restaurant notice hangs beneath tiled eaves. An old building was also a present-day place to eat and work for those who used it.
An alley seen from a shop doorway
A person at a doorway, displayed goods and a sign at the lane's end. Small scenes can hold a street in memory better than a whole building.
A narrow passage beside an instrument sign
Beside the red-lettered sign, a passage seems barely wide enough for one person. These gaps reveal a depth hidden from the avenue.
An ordinary walk past the estate agent
A person passes blue walls and an old-style real-estate sign. Even a familiar shop term can come to sound like the language of another era.
A tall building behind low roofs
Low tiles at the end of the alley overlap with a high building beyond. Change is visible from one side of the same photograph to the other.
Another working day beside an old sign
A sacheoltang restaurant sign hangs beside tiles and wooden doors. A person pulls a cart along the lane, continuing the day’s work.
Jongno Tower at the alley’s end
People turn to look or leaf through a booklet as they walk. Low shops and a tall tower fit within the same few steps.
Goods spilling out of the shops
Goods sit outside and signs project towards the road. Displays, rather than walls, seem to mark the edge of the pavement.
Tool shops on a Cheonggye 3-ga corner
Tools and trade signs fill the shopfronts. A short walk south from Jongno brings the leisure street into contact with the working city.
Gukilgwan after the building site
Recall the cranes and low roofs around Gukilgwan in 1999. A tall building now presents a long façade beside the lane.
A shape growing familiar in the skyline
Trees and traffic continue below Jongno Tower. A once-new building can gradually become a familiar point for giving directions.
Long winter shadows in Pimatgol, 2006
Two walkers cast long shadows in front of low shops. In a changing city, this is an alley that invites one more walk.
Nakwon Instrument Arcade in large letters
The arcade's name spans its front. The building seen from far above in 1983 is now before us at street level.
Shops beneath the rice-cake signs
Shops open onto the street beneath a low building. Around the instrument arcade, another daily life of eating and shopping continues.
A rice-cake shop between taller buildings
A low Woori rice-cake shop sits between high walls. As the city grows taller, familiar shop names can remain close to eye level.
Still there in 2009: Bosingak
We have travelled from the low pavilion of 1978 to this view. Surrounding signs and buildings change, while the place called Jonggak continues.
A city lighting up, memories remaining
We have travelled 37 years from the excavated streets of 1972. Lights come on between taller buildings. Which street, and which companion, make up your Jongno?
Where these photographs came from
These 100 photographs were selected from public records of the Seoul Museum of History, Seoul Metropolitan Archives and The Seoul Institute for their views of urban change and street life: 11 from the 1970s, 10 from the 1980s, 45 from the 1990s and 34 from the 2000s. The final scene is dated November 2009.
The short texts combine archival information with reflections on visible details. They do not reconstruct the experiences or words of people pictured. Select a photograph to enlarge it and browse neighbouring images.
Dates follow the archives and retain their recorded precision. Photographs without a known month appear at the start of their year. The exact order within a recorded month or day is unknown. Historical place and shop names may differ from those used today.
Each photograph includes its source and usage terms. Images were resized and converted for the web, retaining their colours and framing. Some early photographs use the small publicly available images. Project years in the Seoul Institute credits may differ from the year of photography.