Gyeongju: Tumuli Park

Our trip to Gyeongju, capital of the ancient Shilla Kingdom, was full of historical sites. The last one we saw was the Tumuli Park (or Daereungwon in Korean). A tumulus is a burial mound.

As you might be able to guess, the park consists of a group of burial mounds.

There is one tomb that you can go into. This is Cheonmachong, or Heavenly Horse Tomb. Inside they have transformed it into an exhibit space for replicas of what was found in the tomb (the real stuff is in the Gyeongju National Museum). You can’t take pictures inside. There is a part that replicates what the artifacts looked like in the tomb, but mostly, I was surprised by how modern and totally redone the inside of the tomb was (not in a good way).

Other than going into the one tomb, you can also just walk around the park, looking at the cool tombs and walking through a peaceful old forest.

The tombs are huge and quite impressive. It’s enjoyable to walk around them.

Details:

• Location: The Tumuli Park is south of the bus station area in Gyeongju and a bit north of the museum, Anapji Pond, Cheomsongdae, etc. It’s a huge walled area full of tombs – you basically can’t miss it. From Gyeongju Bus Terminal you can take City Bus 70 or 42 to one of the entrances.
• Hours: 8:30 AM to 9 PM daily, most of the year. Closes earlier in the winter.
• Admission: 1500 Won.
• Other Info: The Tumuli Park is pretty big – wear good shoes! You can walk from there to many other Gyeongju attractions. If you want to see burial mounds but don’t want to pay, there’s an area of mounds closer to the town part of Gyeongju, and a couple of mounds near Cheomsongdae Observatory.