For the first day of my trip, I decided to visit the furthest sites, which were Bulguksa Temple and Seokguram Grotto. These two places are quite a distance from many sites, on Tohamsan Mountain, and I wasn’t sure how long a leisurely visit to each would take. Research before the trip suggested that the Seokguram Grotto bus, which you can take from right outside the Bulguksa Temple main entrance, only came every few hours but a visit to the Tourist Information Centre in Gyeongju Station provided me with bus times, which were much more frequent, and a free map showing places to visit. I chose to go to Seokguram Grotto first as I arrived at Bulguksa Temple entrance at the same time as the bus was due. After a ride of around 25 minutes up a long winding road the bus pulled into the car park and from there it is a further walk of around 10 minutes along a stone and sand winding path to reach the grotto area. Just before you reach the grotto entrance you can see many stone architectural pieces that have been preserved in one area to view. After climbing a few more steps there is a building that serves as the entrance/exit to the grotto. I was really surprised to find the inner grotto (the Buddha, reliefs and other architectural features) behind glass and that photographs were not allowed. I have to say that I was a little disappointed by this, although I do understand that it is a UNESCO protected site. The inner grotto is absolutely stunning and extremely photogenic, but my visit was quite short as the building itself serves more as a walk-through area with a glass viewing panel. For that reason, I would suggest trying to avoid visiting at peak times. I had at least hoped to buy some postcards or pictures of the inner grotto elsewhere at the site, but although some things were available for purchase, there was no sign of images of the inner grotto. So, after a relatively short visit I caught the bus back down to Bulguksa Temple. The temple is quite large with many areas to explore and many buildings and other architectural features to see, including two very large stone pagodas. There was also an abundance of colourful lanterns and votive slips throughout the site, adding further to an already fascinating site. Visiting both sites requires almost a full day if you want to have a good look around, but there are restaurants and stores just across the road from the temple entrance if you need to eat or top up your water supply.
I did a lot of research before my visit and had a long list of places to go, so I knew that many of them were relatively close to each other. For accommodation, I chose to stay in a hanok, a traditional Korean house, that seemed to be in easy walking distance to the closest of the sites I wanted to visit. The area is full of hanok type accommodation, which is very fitting considering its historical importance. Early on day two, I set off to view a group of burial mounds, or tumuli, which I knew were close by. After a 10-minute walk I saw several huge round grassy mounds just sitting in a small field. These were the first tumuli I had seen that weren’t pictures on the pages of a book, so I was already awestruck. After spending some time walking around and taking pictures, I decided to explore further along the same street which consisted of shops, cafes and restaurants on one side and open fields on the other. I could already see what seemed to be more tumuli in the distance but I was really surprised to find that within a few hundred metres there was site after site after site, and then looked across the road to see yet another site just a few steps away. Whilst I knew the UNESCO listing stated that there was a ‘concentration’ of sites. I had not appreciated how close together some of them were – they are literally right next to each other. No sooner had I finished looking at another group of tumuli that I saw the top of Cheomseongdae Observatory poking out from behind a nearby tree. In fact, many sites are within easy walking distance of each other. Within the space of a (very long and exhausting) day, I manged to visit all the nearby tumuli sites and their associated visitor centres, Cheomseongdae Observatory, Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond, and Woljeonggyo Bridge. Woljeonggyo Bridge is a recent (2018) reconstruction, and is a great place to end the day, as it looks particularly beautiful in the evening. As you visit each site, do remember to read the information panels, as they provide important background information and make clear whether you are viewing a historical site or an evidence-based reconstruction.
The final day of my trip took me to Gyeongju National Museum, which is deceptively large because it is split over different buildings and has a big outside area full of stone architectural pieces. There are several permanent exhibitions. There is an exhibition hall devoted to Silla history, and another devoted to Silla art, a Wolji exhibition hall housing artefacts found at Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond, and a treasury which is a storage area for housing various Silla artefacts. At the time of my visit there was also a special exhibition entitled ‘Sculpted Celadon of the Goryeo Dynasty’ which included some wonderful Celadon pieces that I had never seen before.
And with that, it was the end of my three days in Gyeongju and time to head back to the train station. Although I achieved everything that I set out to do, there are still other sites that I would like to visit in the future. Gyeongju provides a fascinating insight into Silla and Unified Silla history and culture, and it definitely left a very positive lasting impression, but it also left me with a wish to return to explore both the city and Silla culture in much more detail.
If you would like to know more about the individual places visited, then go to the 'sites' and 'museums' pages and follow the prompts. Photographs are currently available to view and accompanying text will be added shortly.
I’ve visited a lot of cultural heritage sites and museums, but nothing prepared me for my first visit to the city of Gyeongju in North Gyeongsang Province. Gyeongju has two nicknames. The first is ‘The Golden City’ which relates to the many gold artefacts discovered there. The second, ‘The Museum Without Walls’, is due to its sheer amount of cultural heritage sites and is very much a well-deserved title - but one that I did not fully appreciate until my recent visit. Gyeongju was the capital during the Silla (57 BCE – 676 CE) and Unified Silla (676-935 CE) periods, which totals around 1,000 years and the surviving traces of that occupation led in 2012 to the ‘Gyeongju Historic Areas’ – five distinct areas of importance - being inscribed by UNESCO.