Ihwa Mural Village, Mural neighbourhood in Ihwa-dong, Seoul, South Korea

Ihwa Mural Village is a hillside neighborhood in Ihwa-dong, Seoul, just below Naksan Park. In 2006, about 70 artists painted walls, underpasses, schools, and a police station, and added installations such as steel figures near the park. Flowerpots, telephone poles, stone fences, and stairs became part of the art.

Ihwa-dong was a hillside daldongnae of working-class families and refugees who settled after the Korean War. In 2006 the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's 'Art in the City' campaign funded the Ihwa-dong Naksan Project, and about 70 artists with residents, students and volunteers painted the village from September to December. In 2013 artists and university students added 60 works, and in April 2016 residents removed murals, painting over the flower and fish staircases.

The murals here reflect ongoing conversations between artists and residents about how to share this hillside space with visitors. You can sense this balance as you walk through streets where art decorates homes still actively lived in.

The neighborhood is free to visit and open all day since it's a residential area, but wear comfortable shoes as steep staircases and narrow pathways dominate the terrain. Early mornings or weekdays offer fewer crowds if you prefer a quieter experience.

The flower staircase, renovated in 2013 with colored irregular tiles, was the village's most popular mural until April 2016, when residents painted it grey along with the fish staircase. The artist of the white angel wings mural removed it himself after it drew crowds following a 2010 TV appearance, and it was repainted elsewhere by student volunteers in 2013.