‘1890 Namsangol’ is a concept developed to assign ‘Namsangol Hanok Village’ the role as the ‘Window of the Times’ to shed light on ‘Hanyang in the 1890’s’. Namsangol Hanok Village has five houses constructed in the 1890’s. Although there are many historical interpretations about the 1890’s, it was a period when Emperor Gojong proclaimed Korea an empire (1897) and began interacting with world powers, a period when Joseon dreamed to become an empire based on openness, subjectivity, and dynamism before the Japanese Colonial Era began.
Namsangol Hanok Village is playing the role of an urban traditional culture themed park and it is visited by 1.5 million domestic and foreign tourists every year. It invites visitors to an appealing opportunity to travel through time showing various lifestyles of people at the end of the Joseon Dynasty and Korean folklore through the ‘Arts of Hanyang.’ Since 2017, the staff of Namsangol Hanok Village made a premise for realistic fantasy called “Today 120 Years Ago”, set up a village called Namsangol Hanok Village, and reinterpreted and reproduced various images of Hanyang seen through Namsangol in the 1890’s through various contents. Namsangol Hanok Village will continue to restore the brand programs of 1890 Hanyang such as Namsangol Night Out, Namsangol Drama, Holidays in Namsangol, Namsangol Night Market, and seasonal festivals that are rare in urban areas and shed new light on them from a modern viewpoint, giving domestic and foreign visitors a chance to experience the life of the villagers of Namsangol 120 years ago and the festivals held back then.