Gyeongju Baeban-dong Three Royal Tombs

About this place

The Baeban-dong Three Royal Tombs of Gyeongju, named for three royal tombs set side by side on the western slope of Gyeongju Namsan, are traditionally said to be the tombs of three Pak-clan kings: Adallagang (8th king), Sindeokwang (53rd), and Gyeongmyeongwang (54th). All the mounds are circular earthen forms. The middle tomb, said to be Sindeokwang's, was looted in 1953 and 1963; internal investigation confirmed it to be a stone-chamber passage tomb (hoenglyeol-sik seogsil-myo). Murals in the chamber — painted in red, yellow, white, deep blue, and navy in 12 panels — are unique among Gyeongju's otherwise mural-free Silla tombs. However, there is no firm historical record identifying these as Pak-clan tombs, and a gap of some 700 years between King Adalla and Kings Sindeok and Gyeongmyeong makes their co-burial here implausible.