“Can an Underground Bunker Store PNU’s Artifacts?”

Experts are skeptical about storing Pusan National University (PNU) Museum’s artifacts in a humid underground bunker due to the expected high costs of humidity control. Additionally, renovating the space alone requires billions of won, and its limited size makes it difficult to store all the artifacts.

On March 6th, “Channel PNU” heard that PNU is converting an underground bunker on the Busan Campus into a museum storage facility. The remodeling project, which began on January 31st, has an initial budget of approximately 800 million won and is scheduled for completion by April 30th.  

The project was initiated to replace the museum annex, which had been used as an artifact storage facility. On April 25th, 2024, PNU held the opening ceremony for “Saebyeokddeul” in front of the museum and announced plans to repurpose the annex, renaming it “Moochangjae” and using it as a venue for exhibitions, concerts, and other cultural events as found out by “Channel PNU” on May 3rd, 2024. A museum official stated, “The annex, built in 1956, is a historically significant and aesthetically valuable building. We determined that using it as an open cultural space was more appropriate than continuing to store artifacts there. As a result, we needed a new storage location and decided to renovate the underground bunker.”

However, concerns have been raised about whether storing artifacts in a humid underground bunker is appropriate. Renovating the long-abandoned bunker costs billions of won, and maintaining the temperature and humidity suitable for artifact preservation is expected to incur significant expenses. Originally, the bunker housed 18,833 national treasure-level artifacts transferred from the Busan Property Office in 1955, but after these artifacts were reclaimed in 1961, the space remained unused for nearly 60 years. A representative from the National Palace Museum of Korea, which currently uses a transformed underground bunker as a storage facility, commented, “Compared to other underground storage facilities, humidity control in the PNU bunker will be more challenging due to geographical conditions, potentially increasing electricity costs by more than 10%.”

University officials are also aware of this issue. The museum annex, where artifacts were previously stored, had three temperature and humidity control units installed at a rate of one per 100㎡. However, according to officials, the underground bunker will require eight units, more than doubling the current cost burden. Since maintaining a stable temperature and humidity level is crucial, these units must run 24 hours a day. An official from the Head Office overseeing the project acknowledged, “Since we are converting a dilapidated underground bunker into a storage space, electricity consumption is inevitably high.”

The underground bunker is also insufficient in size to store all museum artifacts. According to the PNU Division of Facilities Management, the former museum annex had approximately 320㎡ of storage space, whereas only about 250㎡ of the bunker can be used as storage. Additional storage space is needed, but no solution has been proposed yet. An official from the Head OfficsOffice stated, “Once the bunker renovation is complete, artifacts will be relocated there, but we have not yet determined where to store the remaining artifacts.”

Despite these issues, the museum annex, which underwent renovation in May 2024, has remained vacant for over nine months. The artifacts previously stored there are currently housed in the Biology Building. An official from the Head Offices explained, “The renovation of the museum annex has already been completed, and once its purpose is decided, only minor remodeling will be needed. However, no specific use has been determined yet.”

Reporter Jeong Su-Vin

Translated by Thadar-Soe