Uhang Ri Dinosaur Museum

By Mark Liebenthal

The Uhang-ri Dinosaur Museum is south of Gwangju and Mokpo, near Haenam. It is set in rolling hills with life-sized dinosaurs placed around the parking lot and the sidewalks on the way to the museum. From one’s car to the front door of the museum, visitors are awed by the sight of such large dinosaur displays. One feels a sense of high expectation that they will be impressed after these immediate sightings of four-story brontosaurs. The exhibit actually begins as soon as you emerge from your car and reaches far beyond the main building, which is a pleasant fifteen-minute walk from the parking lot. The scale of the exhibit is as vast as the landscape.

From the parking lot, one can almost see the main building where dinosaur skeletons are set up inside. Along the wide, winding walkways there are plenty of opportunities for picture-taking. The immense dinosaur displays are not roped off, so enthusiasts may stand knee-high to a brontosaurus, or risk their neck in the jaws of prehistoric proto-crocodile.

Photography lovers could easily spend an hour taking pictures in the front, outside display, especially during spring and summer, as the landscape will be green and the fountains will be operating.

The museum building is itself a display. The façade has two life-sized brontosaurs “breaking” through the wall as they escape from the museum. It is an extraordinary, life-like display of a pair of brontosaurs in a contemporary setting.

Inside the building is an impressive collection of dinosaur skeletons, habitat displays, informative signs, a children’s play area, a life-like robotic dinosaur and a cafeteria.

The curator of the museum spared no expense with the exhibits. There are a variety of sizes of each dinosaur on display. There are impressive Triceratops, Pterodactyl, Stegosaurus, and many others to view.

The middle of the museum is a large habitat display of a life-sized, robotic Tyrannosaurus rex eating another dinosaur. The roar of the T-Rex is chilling; it can be heard (and felt) throughout the entire building. This habitat room is dark, making it the perfect setting for walking into a carnivore’s lair.

Next to the T-Rex room is a Pterodactyl room and a glass floor display. Again, the curator spared no expense, as there is a skeleton of a Pterodactyl the size of a truck suspended from the ceiling, surrounded by other smaller Pterodactyls. The floor, walls and ceiling are used to display the impressive remains.

In between the exhibit rooms there are places to pose with Trick Art.

The dinosaur museum is located at the site where thousands of fossilized footprints are found. The museum is built over the foot prints, with a glass floor, for easy viewing and for the preservation of the site.

The main building has a small selection of footprints with glass-floor viewing, while further back along the shoreline, there are large viewing halls.

The viewing halls are long buildings set along the hills of the shoreline and have both glass floors and open viewing of the shore line. The large windows facing out toward the ocean, allow full scenic viewing of the shore.

The viewing halls are sizeable enough to accommodate large groups comfortably. There is ample room on both sides of the display to allow pedestrian traffic to flow freely, while other groups may stand along the rails without blocking those who are strolling through. Enthusiasts may take the time to study the tracks and take pictures, while the merely curious may pass by at a faster pace.
The walking area behind the museum is extensive. There are many life-sized dinosaurs waiting to be discovered and photographed. Having the giant dinosaurs outside is perfect for photography as they are set in natural surroundings. The colorful giants are perfect to the smallest detail.

Also behind the museum is an observation tower on a hill. A short walk up a wide, winding paved path is an enclosed observation platform. The observation platform is round and glass-walled, allowing for a panoramic view.

The Uhang-ri Dinosaur Museum is an hour and a half drive south of Gwangju. The area has much to offer a visitor, such as: hiking, bird watching, temples, local cuisine, mountain-top observation platforms (with cable car rides), beaches, islands and more.

One may also easily visit Haenam, Wando, Jindo and Mokpo while in the area.