Yeosu’s old town has a National Treasure at its centre, and for one month this autumn it gets a nightly light show. The 2026 National Heritage Media Art programme, organised by the National Heritage Administration with the city of Yeosu, runs from October 9 to November 8 under the theme “Jinnamgwan: Rebuilt with Light”. It is free and runs 19:30-21:30. The hall is Jinnamgwan, a single-storey wooden building that Yeosu City dates to the rebuilding after the 1592 Japanese invasion, on the site of the Jeolla Left Naval Command that Admiral Yi Sun-sin used as his base. Yeosu City describes it as the largest of the surviving local government office buildings.
The sources say the event uses film and light to tell three stories: Yi Sun-sin’s war diary, his care for ordinary people, and the voyages of the turtle ship. It is not a single stage. It is spread across three sites in the old town, plus a small exhibit in the museum hall. Local press adds light sculptures built around Yeosu’s stone figures (seokin) and decorative lighting on the Jwasuyeong Bridge near the hall, so the walk between sites is itself lit. The city’s stated aim is to turn Yeosu from a place people pass through into one they stay a night in, and it was selected for 2027 national funding to continue the programme, so this is a first-year event that is likely to be adjusted as it goes.
What you actually do here
The main piece is a projection on the Jinnamgwan building itself. Local press describes it as telling the history of the Jeolla Left Naval Command and the hall’s reconstruction, along with Yi Sun-sin’s strategy during the war. The building does the work, so this is something you stand back and watch.
Gosodae is the second site. KTO’s description mentions the stele pavilion and protected trees there, and the press names two multimedia pieces, Byeonnwi (볕뉘) and The Memory of the Tarubi (타루비의 기억). Yeosu MBC reported that the inscription on a stele is lit so its lettering shows through, and that the lawn under the protected trees reacts to laser art. These are the accounts of the opening week, not a guarantee of every detail you will see.
Yi Sun-sin Plaza is the third. The turtle ship there becomes a media facade about the ship’s voyages, with a QR-code participation element. A travel guide describes the plaza as laid out directly across from Jinnamgwan, but I could not confirm walking times between the three sites, so allow slack.
Two things need the hall rather than the street. In the Jinnamgwan artifact exhibition hall, a large monitor lets you talk with an AI metahuman Yi Sun-sin. The sources do not say whether it follows the 19:30 timetable or the hall’s own opening hours, so check on the night. The stamp tour sends you to three points, Jinnamgwan, the Tarubi monument and the turtle ship. Press says you can follow it with a smartphone or a paper leaflet, and that visitors who collect the stamps get a small commemorative gift; the gift’s terms and where to claim it were not published. KTO’s description also mentions participatory content that uses visitors’ photos, with no further detail, so treat it as something you may stumble on rather than plan around.
Programme and timetable
The nightly window is 19:30-21:30. KTO’s record gives no separate show times inside it, so I would not plan around specific start times for each piece.
On weekends and public holidays the programme adds heritage experience activities, busking and a flea market. These are listed as add-ons for those days, not nightly events, and their hours and locations were not published in the sources checked.
The closures matter more than usual. The event is closed every Tuesday: October 13, 20 and 27, and November 3. The official Instagram also lists a special closure on October 18-19, linked to the Yeosu-Suncheon October 19 commemoration. Because October 20 is a Tuesday, the lights are off for three nights in a row from October 18.
Rain is the unknown. Nothing I found says what happens to the projections in bad weather, so look at the Instagram account on the day if the forecast is poor.
This is not the same as the Yeosu National Heritage Night Walk, a four-day city programme on October 8-11, which has already ended. Yeosu City reported about 98,000 visitors for it, which gives a rough sense of how busy the old town gets when it puts on a heritage night.
Tickets, fees and booking
Admission is free, and no ticket or advance reservation was announced. The stamp tour is also listed without a fee. The weekend flea market and busking are open-air add-ons, so any spending there is optional and set by the stallholders. KTO’s Korean record lists the fee as free and the organisers’ notices do not mention a booking system. If you want to check, the organiser line listed by KTO is 070-8064-0807.
Getting there without a car
Direct KTX trains run to Yeosu Expo Station. Korea Herald put the trip from Yongsan at about three hours, and Trip.com lists about three hours twenty; the actual time varies by service, so I would plan for three to three and a half hours and check the exact train in Korail. The station is not at Jinnamgwan. Korean travel listings show city bus No. 2 from Yeosu Expo Station stopping at Jinnamgwan, but routes change, so confirm it in Naver Map or KakaoMap on the day. Rome2rio’s listing for that line gives about 4 km and 14 minutes from the station to the hall, but also a 30 to 120 minute gap between buses, so do not count on one turning up right after the show. The same site puts a taxi from the station area to central Yeosu at about 11 minutes; I did not verify a fare.
Day trip or overnight
The show ends at 21:30, and the train ride is three hours or more each way. Whether you can get home the same night depends on the last KTX to Seoul, which I did not verify. Trip.com lists the last departure from Yeosu Expo to Yongsan at 21:54. That is a single ticket-aggregator listing that I could not cross-check, but even taken at face value it leaves about 25 minutes between the show ending and the train leaving, for a transfer that takes at least 11 to 14 minutes without waiting for a bus. I would not plan a same-night return to Seoul around it. If you are in Yeosu anyway for other things, this fits naturally as an evening stop after dinner.
Parking, shuttles and traffic control
I found no shuttle, temporary parking plan or traffic-control notice for the media art period. The Night Walk that overlapped the opening days did close designated streets to cars, but it ended on October 11 and nothing says the same applies now.
There are two ordinary public lots right at the sites. The Yeosu Urban Management Corporation lists a Jinnamgwan lot with 95 spaces and a Yi Sun-sin Square lot with 102 spaces. Its page gives the first hour free, then 200 won per 10 minutes up to 5,000 won a day, charged between 08:00 and 20:00 and free outside those hours, which would make the show window free to park in. A travel blog gives different terms (two free hours, 24-hour charging), so go by the signs at the gate. Roughly 200 spaces across the two lots is not many for a weekend night, and with no shuttle the taxi or bus from the station is the less stressful option. Check the Instagram account for any traffic notice before you go.
Food on site and nearby
No food programme is listed for the media art event itself. For a local taste, the dish to know is Dolsan mustard-leaf kimchi (돌산갓김치): Yeosu City lists it among its Ten Tastes, and it holds a geographical-indication registration. The weekend flea market might carry some, but that is not confirmed. The old town around Jinnamgwan and Yi Sun-sin Plaza is ordinary Yeosu city centre, so restaurants are within walking distance of the sites, but I did not check which ones are open after the show ends at 21:30, so eat first rather than counting on it.
Honest assessment
This is a good short evening if you are already in Yeosu. The setting is real: the lights are projected onto an original National Treasure in the town where the naval command stood, and the story is about the place, not a generic light show. Admission is free, which removes the risk.
The limits are practical. It is two hours a night, closed on Tuesdays and on October 18-19, and I found no verified parking, shuttle or rain policy. The AI Yi Sun-sin and the stamp tour are interactive additions, and I could not check how long the queues get. As a reason to travel from Seoul on its own, the three-plus hours each way make it a hard sell; as an evening in Yeosu, it is easy to recommend.
