YANGJU — Yangju said on the 26th that Gana Art Park has been newly certified as a "2026 Gyeonggi-Style Wellness Tourism Site." With the designation, the city now has three such sites and aims to establish itself as northern Gyeonggi Province's leading wellness tourism destination.
The Gyeonggi-Style Wellness Tourism Site program is run by Gyeonggi Province and the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization to identify and develop outstanding tourism assets within the province. It selects destinations where visitors can step away from daily life, reflect on themselves and restore balance between body and mind.
Gana Art Park traces its origins to the Total Museum, South Korea's first private art museum, which opened in 1984. Gana Art Center acquired it in 2005 and developed it into a complex for culture and the arts centered on a sculpture park. In 2013, it opened the country's first Picasso Children's Museum, establishing itself as a cultural and artistic landmark for visitors from children to adults.
Visitors can experience interactive works such as "Air Pocket" and "Bebop" by textile artist Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam, while the sculpture park offers about 50 works by domestic and international artists set amid nature. A defining feature is the chance to combine art appreciation with rest.
With the Yangju City Museum of Art and Yukjijangsa, both designated as Gyeonggi-Style Wellness Tourism Sites last year, Yangju now has a total of three such sites.
The Yangju City Museum of Art runs programs including "If You Listen Closely," a family-healing docent program, and "Total Immersion," a meditation program tied to its exhibitions. Yukjijangsa on Mount Dorisan combines traditional healing with modern wellness, offering health-promotion programs such as breathing meditation, mugwort moxibustion, agarwood and seonda tea, along with an "oxygen-breathing meditation trail" set in nature.
The city plans to strengthen its stay-oriented tourism programs by linking the art, meditation and healing content of the three sites, and to develop Yangju into a wellness tourism city representing northern Gyeonggi Province.
