A Street of Law and Arts

Banpo-daero connects the Seoul Arts Center in Seocho-gu to Yongsan-gu across the Han River via the Banpo Bridge. It is a massive 8-to-10 lane boulevard that slices through some of Seoul's most affluent and influential neighborhoods.

The name 'Banpo' (盤浦) comes from an old pure Korean word 'Seorigae,' which described how the Han River meandered and pooled in this area. Until the 1970s, it was a low-lying flood plain. The Gangnam development project filled the wetlands and built the Banpo Jugong Apartments—Korea's first mega-scale apartment complex, which transformed the area into a symbol of modern affluence.

Today, the boulevard is defined by two seemingly contrasting domains: Law and Art. The central section near Seocho Station hosts the Supreme Court, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and the Seoul Central District Court—the undisputed heavyweight center of the South Korean legal system. Yet at the road's southern terminus sits the Seoul Arts Center, the nation's premier venue for classical music, opera, and fine arts. It is a street where gavels fall at one end and batons rise at the other.

The Banpo Bridge, which carries this road across the Han River, is famous for the Moonlight Rainbow Fountain—the world's longest bridge fountain, shooting illuminated water shows into the river every summer evening.