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At first glance it looks like your average city park – behind a fence I can see trees, curved paths and bright-green grass. But it doesn’t take long to notice that the hills that rise throughout the park at various heights, some up to 13 metres, aren’t natural parts of the landscape.
They’re too symmetrical and too smooth to be anything but artificial. And there are too many of them.
I’m entering Daereungwon Tomb Complex, a park in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, as part of my small group tour of the country with Inside Asia. The complex is one of the stranger historic sites I’ve ever encountered.
It’s not just the location – the centre of a busy city, adjacent to homes and shops where people go about their daily lives in the shadow of these impressive mounds, technically known as tumuli – it’s the mystery behind them.
Unlike many other grand tombs around the world, notably Egypt’s pyramids, the tombs of Gyeongju have no entrances, which has made them tricky to excavate and, importantly, even more difficult to rob. Their proximity to locals also helped ensure they remained intact for centuries. Would-be tomb raiders looking to score the treasures within would not have been able to get inside without being noticed.
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Dating back to the 5th or 6th century, during Korea’s Silla kingdom period, some of the tombs have been connected to the rule of King Taejong Muyeol (including his own tomb, which carried an inscription identifying it), but exactly who is in many of the others is unknown. Scholars have their views, but it’s hard to be definitive.
What makes this stranger is that, unlike some other significant archaeological sites around the world, the tombs were never “lost”. Their presence has always been obvious to those that lived around them. And yet, the first excavation of one of the tombs didn’t take place until the 1970s. Even now, very few have been excavated.
What is known is that the entombed were important and wealthy – the tombs that have been excavated contain marvellous treasures from well beyond the borders of the Korean peninsula. There are shells from as far east as Okinawa, and jade and other valuables originating in the west on the ancient Silk Road.
The tombs themselves consist of coffins covered by stones, which in turn were covered with clay to seal and protect them, and finally covered by the huge mounds of earth.
The largest tomb at Daereungwon has been opened up, allowing visitors to step inside and get a glimpse of what the interior of most of the tombs likely look like. This one goes by the name Cheonmachong – not for the name of the person who was buried there, as that remains unknown, but for the painting of a golden flying horse discovered within. More than 11,000 artefacts were discovered inside, including a gold crown.
After we leave the park, we take a stroll down Gyeongju’s main street, Hwangnidan-gil, a busy strip mostly aimed at domestic tourists, filled with places selling local snacks, sweets and homewares, tarot readers, cafes and caricature and photo studios. It’s filled with young Koreans wandering from trendy shop to trendy shop, just half a block away from the ancient tombs.
We head to our accommodation – the beautiful Wadamjeong Hanok, a modern lodge built in a traditional style, with the rooms facing a central courtyard and garden. It’s here Gyeongju offers one more surprise. I see there are more mounds outside the focal point of the park, dotted throughout the city. A hundred metres or so from our accommodation, I can see several of them, stark against the sky as the sun sets, seemingly ignored but, thankfully, also undisturbed.
THE DETAILS
FLY
Jetstar flies to Seoul from Sydney daily and Brisbane three times a week (Melbourne passengers can connect via Sydney). See jetstar.com.au
VISIT
A guided visit to Gyeongju, including the tombs, is part of Inside Asia’s 10-day Soul of Korea trip, which also includes Seoul, Chuncheon, Busan and Yangdong. From $7329 per person. See insideasiatours.com
The writer travelled as a guest of Inside Asia, Korea Tourism Organisation and Jetstar.
