Old Gunsan Customs House

About this place

The main building of the Old Gunsan Customs House was completed in 1908, making it a modern building constructed by the Korean government before the beginning of the Japanese colonial period. During the colonial era, the customs house assessed and collected taxes on goods passing through Gunsan Port, witnessing the history of Japanese imperial exploitation as the port was used as a gateway for the extraction of rice and other resources from the Korean peninsula. The building is a European-style structure built from red bricks imported from Belgium, in the same style as Seoul Station and the Bank of Korea main building. The roof is covered with lead-plated copper sheets and topped with three pointed spires. The exterior is brick and the interior is wooden. The building was designed by a German whose name has been lost to history. The Gunsan Customs Office was established on May 1, 1899, under the jurisdiction of Incheon Customs; its building was planned in 1906 and completed on June 20, 1908. After serving as the customs headquarters for 85 years until 1993, it was transferred when a new building was erected on the site of the former adjacent surveillance post. It currently operates as the Honam Customs Museum, exhibiting customs Guinness records, Gunsan Customs in film, past customs directors, and 100 years of Gunsan Customs history, with two guided cultural tours daily.