Brick Tomb, King Muryeong's Tomb

Hello. This is a reproduction of the interior of King Muryeong’s Tomb, a treasure house of the Baekje Kingdom. Let’s enter into the tomb. The passage is narrow, so please be careful.
This is the arched burial chamber of the tomb. Look at the floor first and you will see the raised area that set the sacred burial space apart from the rest of the tomb.

Now, look up at the walls. Lotus-patterned bricks form the walls and there is a flame-shaped niche for an oil lamp in the middle. Why do you think an oil lamp was necessary in the tomb?
The oil lamp was part of the last ritual performed after enshrining the casket. When the door of the tomb was finally closed, the light remained until the oil ran out and the tomb was plunged into total darkness.

Brick tombs like King Muryeong’s were easily accessible through an entrance, and so it was simple to bury the queen together with the king after she died. However, the exposed nature of the tomb meant that there was always a high risk of robbery. Fortunately, the tomb of King Muryeong remained undisturbed and complete until recently. As such, it greatly contributed to knowledge of East Asian history.

Next, let’s look around at the treasures King Muryeong’s tomb enshrined for such a long time. Walking out of the chamber exit, you will see a cross section of the interior of King Muryeong’s tomb, as it appeared at the time of excavation, on your left. Shall we look?

What we first see is a long passage projecting towards the front. This is the entrance to the tomb. There is a stone animal figurine – doesn’t it look like a pig with horns? This stone animal figurine is called Jinmyosu an imaginary animal with a grotesque body that was placed in the tomb as a guardian. The leader of the excavation team will explain it to us in more detail. Now, let’s see the interior of the chamber where the treasures were found.

The large, arched room is the burial chamber of King Muryeong. Do you see the funerary goods scattered on the floor? It is an absolute treasure house! There are gilt-bronze shoes and a bronze iron. Can you find the wooden W and U-shaped relics? They are the head and foot rests belonging to the king and queen.

And now, as we mentioned earlier, let’s ask the leader of the excavation team to explain the significance of the stone animal figurine. Excuse me, Sir!