After I visited Oksan Seowon and on my way to see Dodong Seowon, adding Goryeong as a detour for Gaya Tumuli seem to be a compulsory for World Heritage Site enthusiasts despite uncertainty that the nomination will be accepted or not. I reached Daegaya Museum on lunch time, the first thing I saw apart from modern museum building and some drivers had lunch around the empty carpark, was the impressive view of many tumuli on the hills surrounding the museum complex. The location of Tumuli on the high hills was really different from those Silla Tumuli I saw in Gyeongju but quite similar to the Baekje one I saw in Gongju, but the numbers of Tumuli on the hill here was already impressive. The museum staffs were energetic by giving me all English information documents they had and helped me get a ticket from ticket machine, they were really afraid that foreign credit card may not be accepted.

The highlight of the museum in my opinion was the tumuli replica that display the layout and burial ritual of noble Gaya. The tomb construction and layout were different from Silla and Baekje or even much later Joseon, and the ritual had many human sacrificing. In my opinion with only these two elements, Gaya Tumuli maybe the most interesting one in South Korea. After the museum I went to another building that built to cover the excavated Tumuli, inside I saw the real version of what I earlier saw in the museum. Next, I went to see those Jisan-Dong Tumuli behind the museum, the route was really steep and a bit slippery, and after passing many small tumuli and saw the first group of larger one, I felt that I should not be here and quickly decided to go back!! After I saw Dodong Seowon, on my way to Busan, I made a quick stop to the town of Changnyeong to see the sea of Tumuli of Gyodong and Songhyeon-dong next to the Changnyeong museum. At Changnyeong, the tumuli location and vibe were similar to the one in Gyeongju.              

As I mentioned, except the tomb of King Muryeong of Baekje, Gaya Tumuli maybe the most interesting Tumuli groups in South Korea. The structure and burial ritual were unique and make Gaya culture more fascinating. The museum is the must to understand Gaya as I think apart from Tumuli, there is no temple or fortress structure of Gaya that can illustrate its culture which quite unfortunate. Since South Korea listed many tumuli with UNESCO, to avoid confusion and tomb/tumuli overdose, I would against any idea to see all Baekje, Silla and Joseon Tumuli and Tombs in the same trip but recommend focusing Baekje with its temples, fortresses and especially tomb of King Muryeong, and Gyeongju’s Silla with ruins of ancient palace and keep tumuli for Gaya.