Kyongju
August 22, 1999
A 4 hour train ride took me took the ancient
city of the south east called Kyongju. Here is the
birthplace of the unified Korea under the Shilla
Kingdom in the 6th century CE.
A tomb has bee escavated to allow vistors
inside. To respect the dead, photography inside
is not permitted ..(sorry)
Br. Steven Kim, OFMCap. Showed me around. You can see more tombs
behind him.
Here you can see how difficult it is to take care of
these... it takes three to mow the grass.
Ch'omsongdae Observatory. This astromnomical observatory is known to be the oldest of its kind in Asia. It was erected during the reign of Queen Sondok (632-647) and is an important treasure of the Shilla Kingdom.
The
tower is over 5.17 meters in diameter at the bottom and
9.5 meters tall. 27 layers of large asquare hewn granite blocks were
piled up to create the cylendrical tower.
At the top,
long stone bars were placed on which obervation equipment were probably
postitioned. Between th 13th and 15 layers there is a square entrance facing sounth and leading to the interior of the tower
Traces of a ladder can be seen just below the entrance. Above the entrance there
are 12 layers and below there are twelve. Exactly 365
bricks were used.
Anapji pond
