17 August, Gyeongju

Unlike that mid 20th century dynasty that was promised to “last 1000 years,” the Korean Silla dynasty prospered for a little over 1000 years from 500 BC until it declined over the second half of the 6th century AD. For almost all of this period, Gyeongu, which was once called Seorabeal, was the capital of the three kingdoms that united to formed the dynasty.

The Gyeongu National Museum, on the edge of today’s city, contains thousands of artefacts of the Silla period that have been found in the hundreds of ancient sites and tombs in and around the city. We have visited scores of museums in Asia and have seldom been so enthralled as we were today. We are starting from a zero base line when it comes to Korean culture, so we were well primed for a crash course, which we got in spades. The museum was extremely well laid out and presented, with great explanations  for key exhibits. Of special interest were the pieces of iron armour, gold jewellery and even footwear!  An amusing piece was a 14 sided dice, used for a drinking game. Options included “Dance silently; bottom (sic) up and laugh; and sing and dance.”

 There are many historical monuments and site in and around Gyeongju, if we knew more about the city when we were doing our planning, we might have arranged to have more time here.

On the way back to our hotel, we chose to walk through the many burial mounds and associated historical sites  that still survive in the city’s centre. One of the most important of the remaining buildings is the Cheomseongdae Observatory which is the oldest such structure in Asia. Its importance was that it was associated with the belief of farmers that success in agriculture was strongly tied to the stars. 

The construction of the mounds was highly sophisticated, for the time. A large wooden tomb was initially constructed, holding the King’s body and sometimes hundreds of grave goods and buried up to seven metres below ground level. A timber frame was then built around the wooden tomb to hold and contain millions of rocks and clay, to waterproof the tomb. The whole was then covered with soil. One of the tombs, Cheongmachong, is open to the public, revealing details of its construction and excavation. The initial excavation was conducted by the Japanese rulers and the Korean commentary is highly critical of the quality of the work. A second excavation in 1974 uncovered more artefacts.

Tomorrow we are off on the express bus to Busan, Korea’s second city.