The World’s First Phone Museum & Gallery
By Shim Hyun-chul
Staff Reporter
Do you remember your first cellular phone? The handheld items are bound to be associated with many memories. Fancy seeing it again? Care to find out what else can be done with it?
Then come to the Phone Museum & Gallery in Jeomdong-myeon, Yeoju-gun, Gyeonggi Province.
``People's old cell phones can become a precious exhibit at our museum,'' said director Lee Byeong-cheol.
The museum features everything about telephones, from the world's first model to Korea's first telephone and cellular phones to the latest designs and rare and unique phones. Some 1,200 handheld phones and about 2,000 other baffling telecommunication-related items are on display at the cozy location.
Only a few decades have lapsed between the time when people communicated via Morse code and today, when people speak while looking at one another through videophones. But unlike centuries-old artifacts, it's rare to see early telecommunication equipment. Cell phones undergo such rapid transformation and become outdated so quickly that one year for items on display at the Phone Museum & Gallery may be equivalent to a century for artifacts in a history museum.
Director Lee said that the cell phones have become integral to our everyday lives. He founded the museum because he felt sad that such items had disappeared without a trace so quickly over the years.
``This is the world's only privately operated phone museum, but it's a financial burden to keep up with collecting the massive number of models. Nevertheless, a significant number of cell phones people use around the world are crafted with Korean technology, and such a museum is meaningful, not only because Korea tops the world ranking for both technology and sales but also because it can trace a rich history and culture of cell phones,'' he said.
Lee has been collecting cell phones for over 20 years, and kindly shares his story with visitors. Almost anyone can explain the technical aspects of cell phones, but no one can recount the history of rare phones or expanding a collection as Lee can.
What if your old cell phone finds a permanent home in the world's only phone museum? For more information, visit www.phonemuseum.co.kr or call 010-3555-1572.