서대문형무소역사관

[Overview of the Administration and Security Office]

The building took care of overall business of the Seodaemun Prison. It was built in 1923, with 2 floors above ground and 1 below ground, On the first floor there were offices for clerks, on the second there was the Warden’s Office and a meeting room, while the basement floor was used as an interrogation room. The roof of the front building was made to be high and magnificent by the Japanese colonial power to create a sense of intimidation among the public. At the time of construction, only the middle part of the building had two floors, both sides had two floors with white tiles on the exterior walls in 1959. These tiles were removed, and the building was restored in 2010. The gray cement marks on the walls are the trace of detaching those tiles. Currently, it displays the synoptic history of the Seodaemun Prison, including the expansion of Seodaemun Prison during the Japanese Empire and anti-Japanese independence movement, according to the flow of time. It showcases history from the period that it opened as Gyeongseong Prison by the Japanese Empire by 1908 to the period that it was used as Seoul Detention Center in 1987.