In the previous post about the areas of Gyeongju, I mentioned that this area holds a lot of historic Korean relics — palaces, padogas and sustaining examples of architecture from the Shilla period of just about a millennium ago.
Right in the central part of the city of Gyeongju, about the size of any city’s central park — Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park, Vancouver’s Stanley Park or Toronto’s High Park, for example — is a massive massive green space that looks like something from the introductory scenes of Teletubbies (if anyone else remembers back that far) — great grassy hills of green.
These ictures won’t do them justice but if you can imagine an enormous green pasture, bubbled up in spots, you’ll get the general idea.
The domes are similar in purpose to the Egytian pyramids — giant place markers for deceased nobility.
One of the tombs, Cheonmachong, is called Heavenly Horse Tomb. It’s open to visitors and a cross-section display shows its construction.
After the death of the worthy nobleman or -woman, the person was placed in a wooden coffin inside a wooden box, along with crowns, jade jewelry, pottery, weaponry and other items that might be needed in the afterlife. In this particular tomb was found a saddle with a horse painted on its wooden back — hence its name, Heavenly Horse Tomb.
The park has a serene peaceful quality; a nice place to spend eternity!
I had no idea korea had so much interesting history….
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