Korea (DPR)
Koguryo Tombs
Koguryo Tombs by Christravelblog
The Complex of Koguryo Tombs with its beautiful wall paintings represents the burial customs of the Koguryo Kingdom.
The monumental stone tombs were built under earthen mounds. Different types existed, varying in the number of burial chambers inside. The richest were decorated with wall paintings, showing scenes of Koguryu culture such as food, costumes and religious practices. The Koguryo Kingdom stretched from the northeast of China to the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula from ca. 37 BCE – 668 CE.
Community Perspective: Although tombs may be a staple on standard North Korean itineraries, seeing one of these specific examples may require putting in a “special request”. Solivagant and AC both visited the heavily reconstructed Tomb of King Tongmyung and were not allowed inside.
Site Info
Official Information
- Full Name
- Complex of Koguryo Tombs (ID: 1091)
- Country
- Korea (DPR)
- Status
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Inscribed 2004
Site history
History of Koguryo Tombs
- WHS Type
- Cultural
- Criteria
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Links
- UNESCO
- whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
- whc.unesco.org — whc.unesco.org/
News Article
- Dec. 14, 2009 joongangdaily.joins.com — Japanese painter Ikuo Hirayama, advocate of Koguryo murals WHS, dies
Community Information
- Community Category
- Urban landscape: Asian
- Secular structure: Burial
- Human activity: Agriculture
Travel Information
Guided Tour Only
Recent Connections
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On Passports
(Ancient Tomb Murals of the Goguryeo) p… -
First inscriptions
North Korea 2004 -
Prison
"During the Korean War in 1950-1953 ...…
Connections of Koguryo Tombs
- Geography
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Located in a Capital City
Pyongyang (Capital of the DPR of Korea)
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- Trivia
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Dragon
The blue dragon appears on the ceiling and walls of numerous royal tombs. "In the upper part (which is a symbolic of heaven) are painted genres and the pictures of the four holy animals. The tortoise-and-snake (or black warrior), the northern dipper constellation are depicted on the northern wall. The blue dragon and the sun are on the east, the white tiger and the moon are on the west, and the red bird is on the south with stars in the margin." - nomination file (abridged) -
On Passports
(Ancient Tomb Murals of the Goguryeo) pages 12-13
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- History
- Architecture
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Octagons
"There is a temple site of a large scale called the Site of Jongrung Temple 120 meters away from the Tomb of King Tongmyong. This is the site of one-pagoda-three- building temple type unique to Koguryo which had its main buildings in the north, east and west with an octagonal pagoda as its core." - nomination file
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- World Heritage Process
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Recommended for combination by AB
With Koguryo Kingdom (China): Both were requested by AB AND WHC to consider combining later - "Encourages the Chinese authorities and the authorities of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to consider the possibility of a future joint, transboundary nomination of the Koguryan culture." -
First inscriptions
North Korea 2004
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- Religion and Belief
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Taoism
"Motifs in most Goguryeo tomb murals display influences from the Taoist culture of the Yan Dynasty of China." - Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea (CHA) Korean Heritage Summer Webzine Spring 2009 (Vol.2,No.1)
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- Constructions
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Tumuli
"The best known cultural heritage remains of this kingdom are thousands of tombs, built of stone and covered by stone or earthen mounds. Earthen mound tombs, including many with murals, were prevalent once Koguryo moved its capital to Pyongyang - but existed in other parts of the kingdom as well." - Nomination file -
Prison
"During the Korean War in 1950-1953 .....during the temporary occupation by the Americans the Ryonggang Great tomb turned into a prison" (Nom File) -
Dynastic Burial Places
Burial site of kings from the Goguryo Kingdom (427 AD - 668 AD)
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- Timeline
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Built in the 5th century
"The site includes 63 tombs from five areas in North Korea, believed to have been constructed between the 5th and 6th centuries." Nomination File
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- Science and Technology
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Astronomy and Astrology
There are examples of Goguryeo tombs in which constellations were drawn on tomb ceiling murals. "The wall paintings document the history, religious beliefs, and customs of the contemporary people, as well as science and culture. They show costumes, arms, musical instruments, dance, astronomy, etc." - AB Document
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- Visiting conditions
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Guided Tour Only
A visit anywhere in North Korea is guided
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News
- joongangdaily.joins.com 12/14/2009
- Japanese painter Ikuo Hirayama, ad…
Recent Visitors
Reserved for members.Community Reviews
Show full reviews
I got to see the tomb of King Tongmyoung as well as part of my tour. The local guide at the tomb itself, and of course everyone needs to have a local guide at every place visited, was a lady highly knowledgeable in Koguryo history. I did enjoy listening to her. However, as expected, the history told to me was tinged with political undertones. After I had mentioned the name of Tongmyoung's son, which of course I had learnt from a South Korean epic drama serial on the king, the local guide surmised that I must have learnt about the name from sources based on the Samguk Sagi. The DPRK knows the son by a slightly different name.
The Samguk Sagi is a history chronicle compiled during the Koryo period. The team that was responsible for it was unfortunately headed by a descendant of Silla royalty. The DPRK appears to think that the Samguk Sagi was written to belittle Koguryo and lift Silla's reputation.
As further evidence of this belittlement, the local guide pointed out that the Samguk Sagi only lists 12 Koguryo kings when there were in fact, as believed in the DPRK, 17.
By the way, Silla as we know was a southern kingdom and Koguryo was a northern one.
Koguryo appears to be very important to the DPRK and indeed they say that this kingdom was the strongest Korean one ever to have existed. I suppose it was an attractive bit of history too since Pyongyang was …
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Before my agent would transport us to North Korea (DPRK) we had to sign that we would not publish any articles about the visit – I hope this review of the Koguryo tombs doesn’t violate that commitment!
If you go to DPRK as part of a group you are likely to have to work hard to get to see this WHS - there is no freedom to go where you like and, unless you go on business, the alternative of a "personal tour" is likely to be very costly in what is at the best of times an expensive destination.
The Inscription covers 12 different sites in various parts of the country and I identified 3 of them as possible "nearby targets" during our visit- 2 near the port of Nampho and 1, the Tomb of King Tongmyung, about 25kms outside Pyonyang. Unfortunately the North Koreans seem to favour taking tourists to tombs other than those chosen for WHS inscription! The favourite tomb for visiting in Pyongyang is that of King Tangun – the legendary (mythical?) ancestor of the Korean people from around 2300BCE. When his remains were “miraculously” discovered in the early 1990s even Kim Il Sung is reported to have asked Kim Jong Il if it was true! It is certainly a fact that the DPRK seems regularly to discover a lot of historical (particularly "Revolutionary")remains which could be regarded as supporting its “world view”.
Another favourite tomb for visiting is that of King Kongmin near the DMZ …
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