Day 41: Royal Tombs in Gongju

Next to the fortress were the area of the Royal Tombs. Unfortunately, the tombs were closed to public. Visitors could only visit the museum and the replicas of the tombs inside the museum.

The Royal Tombs in refer to the 13 royal family tombs including the Tomb of King Muryeong dating from Ungjin Backje (the period when Ungjin (present-day Gongiu, Chungnam) was the capital of Baekje. The
leading tombs are Nos. 5 and 6 (a brick tomb) and the Tomb of King Muryeong. They were first discovered and studied by Karube Jion during the colonial period (Nos. 1~4 in 1927; No. 5 in 1932; and No. 6 in
1933). It was in 1971, when the Tomb of King Muryeong was discovered, that this group of the tombs came to be recognized definitely as those of royal family members dating from the Ungjin Baekje period.

The No. 5 tomb, which is a typical tunnel and stone chamber tomb of Backje, has a burial pit on the southward slope. Its inside is composed of a burial chamber, a path leading to the chamber, and a vaulted ceiling, built with brick shaped rubble stones.

The No. 6 tomb is a brick type bult following the style of the tombs of
the ruling class people of the Southern Dynasties of China. Surveys
have been made since 1932, but no particular relics have been un-
earthed from it.

Tombs have been made to dispose of the body of the dead hygienically. The first tombs were made during the Paleolithic Period, when early species of mankind emerged on the Earth. Gradually, people came to regard tombs as monuments. We can get a glimpse of aspects of the lives of olden-day people and their view of afterlife from the relics buried with the dead.

Tombs dating from the Baekje Period show that their features went through changes according to the relocation of the dynasty's capital from Hanseong(present-day Seoul) to Ungjin(Gongju), and then to Sabi (Buyeo). Archaeological studies have been made of the ancient tombs in Tomb of King Muryeong and Royal Tombs, Gongju, focusing on the transition period from Hanseong to Sabi, when stone-chamber
tombs and brick tombs were built.Read more