Gyeongju

Gyeongju, South Korea

The grassy burial mounds of Daerungwon framed by cherry blossoms at sunset in Gyeongju.

Gyeongju was Silla's capital for close to a thousand years, and its tombs, temples and palace ponds still stand inside the city.

The place

Gyeongju sits in the far south-east corner of North Gyeongsang Province, a short distance inland from the Sea of Japan. The city covers about 1,324 square kilometres and has a population of roughly a quarter of a million, so it feels more like a provincial town than a metropolis. Low hills, outliers of the Taebaek range, ring the plain, and rice fields fill the gaps between them. Seoul is about 370 km away, while Daegu lies 55 km to the west, which makes Gyeongju a natural stop on a southern circuit.

The city's appeal rests on its past. For close to a thousand years it was the capital of the Silla kingdom, and its streets were laid out around palaces, Buddhist temples and royal burial grounds. The historic centre is compact enough to cover on foot in a long day, though the main sights are spread across several districts. Grassy tomb mounds rise beside housing blocks, a stone observatory stands on an open lawn, and a palace pond reflects the stone foundations of pavilions that burned long ago. People often call Gyeongju an open-air museum, and the label holds up: much of the heritage sits in the ground and on the street rather than behind glass.

Modern life runs alongside it. Boats still work from the harbour at Gampo, markets sell local fruit and snacks, and traditional restaurants serve set meals in old wooden buildings. Guesthouses and small hotels are scattered through the town, and intercity buses make day trips from Busan, Daegu or Pohang practical. The result is a place where a morning among royal tombs can be followed by a plate of barley rice and a slow walk back through the market.

Its story

The city's early history is bound up with the Silla kingdom, which it served as capital. According to Korean chronicles, six small villages in the Gyeongju area joined under a leader named Bak Hyeokgeose in 57 BCE, and the new polity took the name Saro-guk before later becoming Silla. During the Silla period the city went by several names: Sŏrabŏl, a word that later came to mean capital city in Korean, Gyerim, meaning rooster's forest, and Geumseong, the city of gold or impregnable fortress.

After Silla brought much of the peninsula under its control by 668, Gyeongju became the centre of court life, politics and culture. The royal family, the aristocracy and a large share of the kingdom's elite lived within its walls. Foreign accounts described the city's wealth in extravagant terms, and a ninth-century geographical work reported its prosperity as far away as Persia. The Samguk yusa gives a peak figure of 178,936 households, which points to a total population of almost one million.

The kingdom came to an end in 935, and the palace pavilions had already burned and fallen into the pond that year. The old capital gradually shrank into a provincial town, but its ancient monuments survived because the ground kept them. Tombs were left standing as grassy mounds, and temple pagodas remained in the fields. Modern Gyeongju has grown around that past, and its burial mounds and palace sites now anchor its sense of identity.

What to see

Culture

Gyeongju is the main place in South Korea to see the material record of the Silla kingdom, which ruled much of the peninsula from its capital here. The city holds 31 National Treasures, and the Gyeongju National Museum displays 16,333 artefacts, so the collections give a detailed picture of the period. Relics fall into four broad groups: burial mounds and their contents, Buddhist temples and objects, fortresses and palace grounds, and older timber architecture. Older still are prehistoric finds, including Mumun pottery excavated in villages around the city and dolmens in outlying districts. The heritage sits comfortably beside daily life, where local people shop at morning markets, eat in family restaurants and walk their dogs past the tomb parks. Remove your shoes before stepping onto a wooden floor in any temple or traditional building, and wait for the staff signal where one is given.

What to wear

Traditional dress in Gyeongju is the hanbok, the Korean costume of the Joseon period and of older times. Women wear a short jacket called jeogori over a full wraparound skirt, or chima, while men wear loose trousers, baji, under a jacket. Silk, ramie and cotton were the usual cloths, with silk reserved for the wealthy, and bright colours marked rank and occasion. Silla-period gold ornaments found in the tombs hint at elaborate court dress. Today most people in Gyeongju dress much as they do in Seoul, in jeans, knitwear and sports jackets, and hanbok is kept for festivals, weddings and the occasional photograph at the palace.

For visitors, the climate and the sites set the rules. Layers work best, because spring and autumn days can warm and cool quickly, and summer is humid. Shoes matter more than anything: the tomb parks and palace grounds involve gravel and grass paths, and shoes come off at temples. Modest clothing that covers shoulders and knees is sensible at religious sites. Lightweight trousers or a simple dress suit most days, with a light jacket for the evenings.

What to eat

Plan it

Best time. Spring and autumn are the most comfortable seasons for walking the open sites. Summer can be hot and humid, and winter is cold, so the shoulder seasons suit the tomb parks best.

How long. 2–3

Getting there. Busan Gimhae International Airport, then an express bus of about an hour. From Seoul, take the KTX to Singyeongju station and then a bus into town, or an intercity bus of about four hours from Seoul.

Budget. low

Tips

Etiquette

Nearby

Sources