A major exhibition that uses a mobile game franchise to reintroduce Korea’s imperial heritage is opening across the entire Dondeokjeon hall at Deoksugung Palace.
The Korea Heritage Service, together with Devsisters, the game studio behind the globally hit mobile game franchise Cookie Run, presents a special exhibition, “Cookie Run: In Search of Korea's Lost Heritage,” from Tuesday through March 1, 2026. This is the first time both the first and second floors of Dondeokjeon have been opened to the public.
The show is notable for reinterpreting the legacy of the Korean Empire (1897-1910) through the intellectual property of Cookie Run, whose universe Devsisters has expanded for more than a decade and which recently surpassed 300 million global users.
“What mattered most for us in this project was Deoksugung itself and the history of the Korean Empire,” said Cho Kil-yeon, CEO of Devsisters. “It was an unfinished dream, shaped by hopes to build an autonomous nation and strengthen its institutions even in difficult circumstances.”
The story of Cookie Run, which begins with GingerBrave, the first cookie to escape from the witch's oven, offered a thematic cue, he added: the idea of small cookies refusing their fate and seeking a better world beyond the heat of the oven.
Visitors move through a five-part narrative that follows GingerBrave and three companion characters as they set out to complete the aspirations Emperor Gojong could not fulfill, encountering artifacts and imagined scenes that illuminate the legacy of the Korean Empire.
“Museum exhibitions can feel heavy,” a Korea Heritage Service official said. “But by integrating the Cookie Run IP, we designed an exhibition that feels friendly and lively. Through the characters’ journey, visitors can connect past and present and gain a deeper understanding of our history.”
Audio guides, exhibition brochures and a Cookie Run storybook catalog are available in both Korean and English.
The show features three large-scale imaginative illustrations created for the exhibition, roughly 40 artifacts and five newly commissioned works by holders of National Intangible Heritage titles, including a recreated Daehan Guksae, the national seal of the Korean Empire produced in 1897; a geomantic compass; a folding fan; a decorative tassel; and a pyeongyeong, a chime instrument with 16 stone slabs. These handcrafted pieces appear within the exhibition as “items” that the cookie characters use to safeguard endangered heritage.
On the second floor, visitors encounter materials related to the proclamation of the Korean Empire, including items from the royal archives, alongside a large illustration that reimagines the palace as it might have appeared before its damage during the Japanese colonial period. Another illustrated folding screen, “Enthronement Anniversary, Opening a New Era,” depicts the grand ceremony prepared to announce the empire to the world.
A panoramic media wall of a 27-meter LED panel spanning the ground-floor gallery presents “The Light of Hope That Never Fades,” which merges Cookie Run characters with a vision of the empire’s modernization ideals set against present-day Seoul. Devsisters said its artists surveyed sites across the city, reconstructing even the long-damaged inner and outer palace gates. More than 20 Cookie Run artists and designers contributed to the media art and illustration production.
The organizers are also introducing Cookie Run-themed merchandise that incorporates elements of traditional Korean design. The items will be sold at the Deoksugung gift shop and through the online marketplace.
hwangdh@heraldcorp.com
