Paju Book City

Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information Service (Jeon Han) · CC BY-SA 2.0

A whole town built by the publishing industry, where every building is a publisher and the architects were let loose.

In the early 1990s Korean publishers did something nobody had done: they moved out together and built a city for books. The result is a few hundred hectares at Paju holding printers, warehouses, editorial offices and publishing houses — and because each commissioned its own architect under a shared code, the whole place became an open-air museum of contemporary architecture: raw concrete, bare brick, weathered steel, no two buildings alike. At its centre is the Forest of Wisdom, a three-storey hall of shelves running floor to ceiling, open through the night for anyone who wants to read.

Visitor information

When is the best time to visit Paju Book City?

Year-round

How long do you need at Paju Book City?

2–3 hours

What are the opening hours of Paju Book City?

The district is open all day; Forest of Wisdom halls 1 and 2 run 10:00–20:00 and hall 3 is open 24 hours. Individual publishers and bookshops keep their own hours

Did you know

Planned from the early 1990s as a publishing-industry cluster.
More than 250 publishers, printers and related businesses are based here.
The Forest of Wisdom library has three-storey shelving and stays open 24 hours.
A shared architectural code turned the district into a contemporary architecture destination.

Travel tips

Come on a weekday; many publishers close their showrooms at the weekend.
The Forest of Wisdom is open all night and worth a late visit.
Combine it with Heyri Art Valley, about 15 minutes away by car.

Source: http://intro.pajubookcity.org/

Updated: 2026-08-05