'World Heritage Festival' comes to Busan with royal processions, hanbok and K-food

The Cultural Heritage Administration will mark the UNESCO World Heritage Committee session with a wide-ranging national heritage festival featuring exhibitions, performances and sailing experiences. The event is designed to promote the value of Korea's World Heritage sites to a global audience and offer domestic and international visitors hands-on traditional culture experiences.

To make the 48th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee — running in Busan from July 19 to 29 — a cultural festival open to people around the world, the Cultural Heritage Administration will open a Korea Pavilion inside Bexco and run side events across the city during the committee session. The Korea Pavilion, with 35 participating organizations operating 45 exhibition and experience booths, will host large-scale exhibitions and hands-on programs centered on Korea's World Heritage sites throughout the event.

Through a thematic zone titled "Korea and UNESCO" and adjacent promotional spaces, the Cultural Heritage Administration plans to highlight the value of 17 World Heritage sites in Korea — including Hwaseong Fortress, Namhansanseong and Sansa, Korean Buddhist Mountain Monasteries — as well as heritage properties on the tentative list. A K-Heritage promotional hall will use media art and immersive content to bring visitors face-to-face with national and World Heritage sites and travel routes across the country. A separate immersive media art exhibition called "Heritage: Timeless Time" will convey the splendor of heritage sites through a towering 9-meter media pole. The National Archives of Korea will mount a special exhibition on the Memory of the World program to highlight the excellence of Korea's documentary culture and reexamine its cultural significance. A promotional space dedicated to Yeongsanjae — a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity — will allow visitors to explore its spiritual and cultural value. The city of Busan will present its own heritage and identity as a maritime capital through a dedicated Busan Host City Pavilion.

Alongside this, promotional spaces will offer food tastings — K-seafood presented by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, traditional market fare by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and K-food by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. A K-Heritage Store selling products that blend traditional culture with a contemporary sensibility will also operate throughout the event.

The festival extends well beyond Bexco into venues across Busan. The Busan Cinema Center will host the "Busan Travel Film Festival: World Heritage on the Silver Screen" (July 18-19), a program exploring World Heritage sites as seen through film, themed around travel. At Shinsegae Department Store's Centum City branch, eight hanbok businesses will participate in "Visiting Hanbok Store Busan" (July 16-22), offering pop-up hanbok shops and traditional culture experiences such as accessory-making workshops. The National Palace Museum of Korea and the Busan Museum will jointly present a special exhibition, "Records and Culture of Joseon, Passed Down Through the Ages" (through Aug. 30, Busan Museum), examining the historical significance of documentary culture through UNESCO Memory of the World heritage and royal artifacts.

A range of events and performances showcasing Korean traditional culture will also take place. The royal guards of Gyeongbokgung Palace will greet visitors at Bexco Exhibition Hall 1 twice daily from July 20 to 29 — from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. and from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. "A Royal Stroll," a reenactment of a Joseon-era royal procession, will run on the same schedule twice daily from 1 to 1:50 p.m. and from 4 to 4:50 p.m. Additional performances at Bexco include "GutGOOD Boreo Gaja Busan" (July 26, Auditorium), a comprehensive traditional arts showcase; "Sanhwabi: Hexagram 22" (July 23-24, Auditorium), a fusion performance reimagining Korea's intangible heritage through a contemporary lens; a Miryang intangible heritage performance; and a special Joseon Tongsinsa envoy procession (July 26, outdoor plaza).

Tourism programs for domestic and international visitors will run throughout the event. The city of Busan will hold the "2026 Wartime Capital Busan Heritage Night Tour" (July 24-25), in which members of the public can explore sites on the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list under "Heritage of Busan, the Provisional Capital" — including Yeongdo Bridge — with a guide. For official participants such as delegates from member states, programs include "From Records to Heritage" (July 23-29, National Archives of Korea Busan Branch and Busan Museum), which offers a viewing of original volumes of the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty and a hands-on experience of Joseon royal cosmetic culture through contemporary cosmetics inspired by artifacts excavated from the tomb of Princess Hwahyeop; and a "World Heritage Field Trip Near Busan" (July 25) visiting Tongdosa Temple in Yangsan and the Bangudae Petroglyphs in Ulsan. Programs exploring Korea's history and spiritual culture will also be available, including visits to the Gaya Tumuli World Heritage site and Hoeamsa Temple Site in Yangju, as well as a temple food dinner and Seon meditation experience hosted by the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism.

Full schedules and registration details for the side events are available on the official website of the 48th Session of the World Heritage Committee.