Gyeongju shines with timeless beauty ahead of APEC Summit

Visitors view the displayed Silla crowns at the press preview of the special exhibition “Silla Golden Crowns: Power and Prestige” held at the National Museum of Gyeongju on October 27. / Reporter Lee Jun-heon

Three golden branches rising from a gleaming headband, a motif found in every surviving Silla crown. For years, visitors have marveled at the brilliance of Silla gold without noticing that each crown carries its own individuality.

The special exhibition “Silla Golden Crowns: Power and Prestige,” opening October 28 at the National Museum of Gyeongju, marks both the museum’s 80th anniversary and the upcoming APEC Summit. It is the first time that all six extant Silla crowns, discovered since the first find during the Japanese colonial period in 1921, will be displayed together.

Excluding the Gyo-dong crown, whose authenticity as a genuine Silla artifact has long been debated, the remaining five are all recognized national treasures: three designated as National Treasures (from Hwangnam daechong North Mound, Geumgwanchong, and Cheonmachong) and two as Treasures (from Seobongchong and Geumnyeongchong). Among the 20 objects on display, including belts and other regalia unearthed with the crowns, seven are National Treasures and seven are Treasures.

The exhibition opens with the Gyo-dong crown, the simplest in form among the six. It consists only of three branch-shaped uprights rising from a gold headband, without the antler-like rear ornaments or dangling pendants seen on other Silla crowns. Though smaller and less elaborate, it dates to the early 5th century and is believed to have established the prototype for all later Silla crowns. The branching motif is thought to have originated from the sodo tradition of erecting sacred trees for heaven-worship in the Samhan period. A video installation beside the crown explores this spiritual symbolism.

Next are the crowns from Geumgwanchong, Seobongchong, and Geumnyeongchong, displayed with the gold belts found alongside them. The Geumgwanchong crown is believed to have belonged to King Isaji, the Seobongchong crown to Queen Soji, and the smaller Geumnyeongchong crown to a royal youth. Each reflects how Silla’s elite expressed power and rank through regalia. Geumgwanchong’s crown features dotted wave patterns across the headband, while Seobongchong’s includes a hat-like ornament between the band and uprights, subtle variations within a shared tradition.

The crown from the North Mound of Hwangnam Daechong, often called the most beautiful of all, features three pairs of pendants hanging gracefully on either side of the headband. It faces across the gallery from the conical mogwan excavated from the South Mound. Japanese scholars once claimed the mogwan was part of the crown, but post-liberation Korean researchers concluded it was a separate headpiece used in daily life, while the gold crown was reserved for ritual ceremonies. Though Japan first unearthed Silla’s golden splendor, it was Korean scholarship that ultimately defined its cultural significance.

High-resolution touchscreen displays allow visitors to examine intricate details of each crown before viewing the originals up close. The exhibition runs through December 14.

Beyond ancient gold, contemporary art inspired by Silla’s legacy is also on view at the Bomun Tourist Complex. Solgeo Art Museum’s special exhibition “Silla Fragrance of Korea,” which opened October 22, presents large-scale ink paintings by Park Dae-sung, who reinterprets traditional sumukhwa techniques in a modern idiom. His new 5-meter-tall work Contemplative Bodhisattva (2025), rendered in ink and traditional pigments, reimagines the Treasure-listed Stone Bodhisattva from Bukji-ri, Bonghwa, of which only the lower half survives, by completing the missing upper body. Behind it, white characters printed in panbonche script on a black background evoke the shared roots of calligraphy and painting.

Overview of the Korean art special exhibition “Silla Fragrance of Korea” at Solgeo Art Museum in Gyeongju, featuring Park Dae-sung’s 2025 work “Contemplative Bodhisattva.” / Courtesy of Solgeo Art Museum

Park’s Korea Fantasy (2023), measuring 5 meters high and 15 meters wide, captures the Korean Peninsula’s vast cultural landscape, from Hallasan to Baekdusan mountains, Hunminjeongeum to Goguryeo tomb murals, and the Bangudae petroglyphs of Ulsan, rendered in sweeping ink strokes that overwhelm with scale and historical depth.

Art restorer and painter Kim Min presents luminous depictions of the Seokguram Buddha, Dabotap, and Seokgatap against a dark background, using powdered tourmaline as pigment on traditional hanji. Reflected in a large water basin before the paintings, the gold-lit pagodas evoke a tranquil sense of eternity.

Ven. Song Cheon, a monk and artist, revisits his 2023 Busan Biennale piece “Gwaneum and Maria: Truth Has Never Left Us.” The 4-meter-tall painting portrays the Virgin Mary in blue and the Bodhisattva of Compassion in red, facing each other in a dialogue that transcends religion. From Park Sun-min’s glass installations to other modern reinterpretations of Korea’s spiritual heritage, the exhibition offers diverse visions of timeless beauty. It runs through April 26, 2026.

At the Wooyang Museum of Contemporary Art, the exhibition “Nam June Paik: Humanity in the Circuits” highlights works from the 1980s and 1990s, a pivotal period in Paik’s artistic evolution. His multimedia compositions, interwoven like electronic circuits, resonate with the APEC Summit’s theme of “Connection, Innovation, and Prosperity.” The exhibition continues through November 30.

※This article was translated by an AI tool and edited by a professional translator.