Audeum

About this place

Audeum, which opened in 2024 in the Heolleung area of southern Seoul, is the world's first museum dedicated entirely to audio. The collection, assembled by the Hansaem Group founder Kim Dong-hwi over several decades, comprises approximately 20,000 objects: gramophones, phonographs, early radios, reel-to-reel tape machines, vinyl turntables, loudspeakers, headphones, and amplifiers spanning from the late nineteenth century to the present. The objects are presented as a continuous history of the relationship between human culture and sound reproduction technology. The building was designed by Kengo Kuma & Associates, who treated the acoustic character of the programme as the primary architectural problem. Kuma used a layered timber-lattice system across the facade and throughout the interior: the interlocking wooden elements diffuse and absorb sound, creating environments in which visitors can listen to historical audio equipment under conditions that minimise ambient noise and reflection. The material palette throughout — wood, stone, and textile — is chosen for its acoustic and tactile qualities rather than for visual effect. The museum is organised as a chronological walk through the history of recorded sound, from early mechanical systems to valve amplifiers to digital formats. Key exhibits include rare Edison cylinder phonographs, a collection of vintage German Telefunken radio cabinets, and a series of listening rooms where visitors can hear historical equipment playing period recordings under curated conditions. Audeum occupies a wooded site near the Heolleung Royal Tombs and the Cheonggyesan foothills — a deliberately quiet location, remote from the commercial densities of central Seoul, that extends the museum's commitment to acoustic experience into the setting itself.