Private Museum and Private Art Gallery Registration Procedure — Establishment Plan Approval, Class 1 and Class 2 Requirements and Curators

Procedure

1. 1. Choose Class 1 or Class 2 and the type

   A Class 1 specialized museum or art gallery must have at least 100 items, at least 1 curator, an exhibition room of at least 100 square meters or an outdoor exhibition area of at least 2,000 square meters, a storage room, an office or research room, one of a reference room, library or auditorium, and anti-theft facilities and temperature and humidity control equipment. A Class 2 facility such as a reference hall, exhibition hall, memorial hall or local history hall requires at least 60 items, at least 1 curator, an exhibition room of at least 82 square meters, a storage room, one of an office, research room, reference room, library or auditorium, and anti-theft facilities and temperature and humidity control equipment. Installing firefighting facilities is a common requirement for both classes.

2. 2. Apply for establishment plan approval (when newly securing a site or building)

   Submit the establishment plan approval application to the mayor or provincial governor or the mayor of a large city, attaching a business plan, land and building statements, a location map, an outline design drawing, and a list and description of materials. The processing period is 30 days, and once the approving authority completes consultation with the relevant agencies, development activity permits, permits under Road Act Articles 36 and 61, farmland conversion permits, mountainous district conversion permits and others are deemed granted. After approval, changing the name or class, the location and area, or the location and area of exhibition rooms or storage rooms, or extending the project period by 3 months or more requires change approval (processing period 10 days).

3. 3. Prepare curators and collection materials

   Curators are divided into Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3 curators and associate curators, and must hold a certificate issued after a qualification review by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Materials are evaluated on their suitability to the field, the appropriateness of their collection, their academic, artistic, educational and historical value, and their rarity. Photos of the materials are attached to the materials list, so organize and photograph the collection in advance.

4. 4. Registration application and review

   Before opening, submit the museum or art gallery registration application with a facility specification, a materials list, a list of curators, and admission and material usage fees. The registering authority reviews the scale and value of the materials, the curators on staff, and the scale and adequacy of the facilities, notifies the result within 40 days from the application date, and issues a registration certificate upon registration. There is no application fee.

5. 5. Change registration and operating obligations after registration

   If the name, founder or representative, class, location, facility specification, materials list, list of curators or fees change, apply for change registration within 14 days from the date of change (processing period 5 days, 20 days for a change of name or class). A registered museum or art gallery must open for at least 90 days a year and at least 4 hours a day, and display its registration on signs, documents and its website. When closing, file a closure report with the registration certificate and a disposal plan for the facilities and materials.

Required documents

• Museum or art gallery registration application (Enforcement Rule of the Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Form No. 6)
• Private museum or private art gallery establishment plan approval application (same Enforcement Rule, Form No. 12, when obtaining establishment plan approval)
• Facility specification (same Enforcement Rule, Form No. 7), 2 copies
• List of museum materials or art gallery materials (same Enforcement Rule, Form No. 8, with photos of the materials), 1 copy
• List of curators (same Enforcement Rule, Form No. 9), 2 copies
• Statement of admission fees and material usage fees (same Enforcement Rule, Form No. 10), 2 copies
• For establishment plan approval: business plan, land and building statements, location map, outline design drawing, and list and description of materials
• Letter of authorization (if submitted by an agent)

Fees

Generally in the range of several hundred thousand won to several million won in the industry · We provide a quote after consultation, depending on whether the work starts from establishment plan approval, the class and type, the volume of the collection list, and whether it is a change registration. Government fees are separate.

See fees and official charges for this service →

Legal basis and review date

• Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 3
• Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 6
• Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 16
• Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 17
• Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 17-2
• Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 18
• Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 20
• Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 21
• Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 22
• Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 24
• Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 29
• Enforcement Decree of the Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 8
• Enforcement Decree of the Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 9
• Enforcement Decree of the Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 10
• Enforcement Decree of the Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 12
• Enforcement Decree of the Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 13
• Enforcement Decree of the Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 15
• Enforcement Decree of the Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 17
• Enforcement Decree of the Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Annex 2
• Enforcement Rule of the Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 5
• Enforcement Rule of the Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 7
• Enforcement Rule of the Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Article 8
• Enforcement Rule of the Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Form No. 6
• Enforcement Rule of the Museum and Art Gallery Support Act, Form No. 12

Checked against the statutes on 2026-10-08

Statutes and public notices change, so each case needs to be checked individually. Statute titles are given in English for reference. The Korean statutes are the authoritative text.

Check these first

• Failing to apply for change registration within 14 days from the date the registered matters changed is a ground for cancellation of registration, and once registration is cancelled, the same matters cannot be registered again for 2 years from the date of cancellation.
• If you do not carry out the project within 1 year after establishment plan approval or suspend it for 6 months or more without justifiable reason, you may receive a corrective order, and if you do not comply, the approval may be cancelled.

Frequently asked questions