For visitors to Korea (such as myself) who like to try to get round all the UNESCO-listed world heritage sites, the list just got longer. On Saturday 6 July, the World Heritage Committee included nine Seowon, or Neo-Confucian Academies, in the list. The nine seowon are dotted around the central and southern parts of the … [Read More]
Place: Gyeongju-si
Selected publications
- Sarah Milledge Nelson: Gyeongju: The Capital of Golden Silla, Routledge 2017
- Robert Oppenheim: Kyongju Things: Assembling Place, University of Michigan Press 2008
Buddha’s Voice – The Bell of King Seongdeok
People sometimes take a jaundiced view of Korea’s estimation of the importance of its cultural heritage. In the case of the Sacred Bell of King Seongdeok, however, it was foreigner, Dr. Otto Kummel, a director at the National Museum of Germany, who suggested that the museum’s description of the bell as ‘the best in Korea’, … [Read More]
Stargazing in Ancient Silla – the Cheomseongdae
Cheomseongdae, the world’s oldest surviving observatory, features a great deal in tourism material, and even if you haven’t been to Korea or the Gyeongju area, you will probably have seen it. You will also, if you are like me, have been somewhat underwhelmed by its rather modest appearance, which if anything does it less justice … [Read More]
Travel ideas in Gyeongju: the Teddy Bear museum
In Gyeongju? Had too much Silla dynasty culture? Try the Teddy Bear museum – including bears visiting models of tourist attractions such as the Seokguram Grotto. Cute. http://t.co/aPfXkhCF [Read More]
Hahoe and Yangdong listed at UNESCO
Congratulations to historic villages Hahoe and Yangdong, “two of the most representative historic clan villages in the Republic of Korea,” and Korea’s latest inclusion in the UNESCO world heritage list, on 31 July. http://bit.ly/cqjKEl # The BBC has some nice photos of both villages, plus other UNESCO sites listed along with them including Reunion Island … [Read More]
Visit Korea, experience the Cold War
Coming to the Travel Channel this autumn is a new travel documentary on Korea. At the Korea Tourism evening at the KCC last week we were given a preview. It was refreshing: a Korean tourism documentary, but from a Westerner’s perspective. Yes, we were told that the KTO assisted in the film’s production, but the … [Read More]
The LKL Korea Trip 2009 pt 5: Bulguksa and Seokkuram
Sunday 19 July 2009 More World Heritage points today. The Samgyeopsal from last night is still sitting heavily on my stomach and I don’t feel like breakfast. The 9 am KTX from Seoul Station, and the connecting train from East Daegu, went without a hitch, and bang on time. Just before I arrive in Gyeongju … [Read More]
The Seoul Magazine photo challenge
One of my minor complaints with Seoul Magazine is their slapdash approach to visual material. Particularly in their events listings they splatter pictures around the page with no description of what the image depicts and what article or event it relates to. We bloggers have a partial excuse for not putting captions under pictures, because … [Read More]