Ulsan petroglyphs museum goes barrier-free for visitors with disabilities

The Ulsan Petroglyphs Museum in Dudong-myeon, Ulju-gun, Ulsan, has completed a major overhaul to create a barrier-free exhibition environment accessible to visitors with disabilities and the elderly.

The renovation was carried out under the city's "Barrier-Free Tourism City" project, backed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's program to strengthen barrier-free tourism connectivity, reducing physical obstacles and improving access to information throughout the museum.

The museum reorganized its exhibition floor plan to accommodate wheelchair users and installed tactile exhibits allowing visually impaired visitors to feel the patterns and shapes of the petroglyphs by hand. Exhibition guides printed in both standard text and Braille are now available, and the museum has introduced sign-language video and audio commentary services via tablets.

The outdoor exhibition area was also redesigned with visitors in mind. The previous outdoor display, which sat on a slope, was relocated to flat ground behind the museum to allow easier access for visitors with disabilities and the elderly. Sculptural installations featuring petroglyph motifs from Bangucheon were also added so visitors can experience the symbolic and artistic significance of the World Heritage site.

Alongside the facility upgrades, the museum's special exhibition hall is hosting "Time Repository: Data of That Day," a commemorative show marking the first anniversary of the inscription of the Bangucheon petroglyphs as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The exhibition runs through April 25 next year and reinterprets the diverse records embedded in the petroglyphs through the modern concept of "data," drawing on physical artifacts, digital content and hands-on materials.

Visitor numbers at the Ulsan Petroglyphs Museum have surged since the Bangucheon petroglyphs were inscribed as a World Heritage site last July. According to Ulsan city, the museum welcomed 117,372 visitors from last July through this June, a 55.6 percent increase — or 41,944 more visitors — compared with the 75,428 recorded in the same period the previous year. The latest facility improvements are expected to drive visitor numbers even higher.

A museum official said the barrier-free exhibition environment and the relocated outdoor display area had made it possible for everyone to enjoy the World Heritage site comfortably, and expressed hope that more people would visit.