Korea at the British Museum: Tickets, Highlights and Visit Tips
Plan a visit to Korea at the British Museum, open until 31 January 2027: ticket prices, late openings and three artistic details worth a closer look.
Make room in your autumn diary for a museum visit that rewards looking closely. Korea at the British Museum, open from 1 October 2026 to 31 January 2027, brings together ceramics, paintings and sculpture spanning more than two millennia. It is a promising choice for a rainy London afternoon, particularly if you enjoy craftsmanship as much as blockbuster scale.
This is a planning guide based on the museum’s programme, rather than a review of an exhibition we have visited. Here is what to look for and how to build an unhurried trip around it.
What is the Korea exhibition about? ##
The official exhibition traces Korean art from around 300 BC to the present, including works from the collection of Lee Kun-Hee, donated in 2021. Loans come from the National Museum of Korea and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea; many works have not previously been shown in the UK.
Our suggested approach is to follow materials through the rooms: the gleam of metal, the surface of a ceramic vessel, then the marks in an ink painting. It gives you a thread to follow even if the names and periods are unfamiliar.
Three details worth slowing down for ##
The museum’s curatorial introduction offers an excellent preview. These are three works and techniques to keep in mind:
A cloud-and-crane celadon bowl: look for the inlaid design beneath its greenish glaze. The technique involves filling incised clay with contrasting slip before glazing and firing.
Sun, Moon and Five Peaks: this nineteenth-century folding screen belongs to a tradition of images placed behind Joseon kings. Look at how its repeated forms organise the scene across the panels.
Jeong Seon’s Clearing after rain on Mount Inwang: the 1751 ink landscape depicts a mountain in Seoul. Take a moment to follow the relationship between dark rock, mist and the small signs of human habitation. You do not need to remember every date. Choosing a few objects to revisit can make a stronger impression than rushing to read every label. Save your favourite title in your phone for further reading afterwards, while respecting the museum’s photography rules.
Korea exhibition tickets and opening times ##
Dates: 1 October 2026–31 January 2027.
Where: Room 35, Joseph Hotung Great Court Gallery, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG.
Price: adults from £18; members and under-16s free. Check the official booking conditions for your party.
Hours: 10am–5pm daily, with Friday opening until 8.30pm. The exhibition is closed on 1 and 2 December. The museum’s general collection has free entry, but this temporary exhibition is separately ticketed. Use the exhibition page to select a date and check current availability, access information and any changes before travelling.
Turn it into a relaxed Bloomsbury afternoon ##
Book the exhibition first, then leave space around it. We suggest allowing roughly 90 minutes for your own planning, longer if you enjoy reading labels; that is our estimate, not an official running time. Add a coffee break afterwards instead of booking another timed attraction immediately.
For an after-work visit, Friday’s later opening is the option to explore. For a weekend trip, keep the rest of your route flexible: a short neighbourhood stroll is more enjoyable when it is not a race to the next reservation.
Find more ideas in Londonfy’s Culture & Art section, and subscribe for our next London picks.
Details checked 28 September 2026 against the British Museum’s exhibition and curatorial pages. Cover: Bloomsbury and the British Museum, photographed in November 2025; a view of the neighbourhood, not the exhibition. Bloomsbury by Jim Osley, CC BY-SA 2.0. Any display crop of the photograph is shared under the same licence.