Gongju National Museum

This is where the treasures of the Tomb of King Muryeong ended up after workers digging a drainage channel stumbled on it in 1971. It is the only royal tomb of the Three Kingdoms period whose occupant is known for certain, and the museum shows the king's and queen's gold diadem ornaments and earrings alongside the stone beast that guarded the tomb. The museum is a short walk from the royal tombs, and admission is free.

A museum for Ungjin-era Baekje

The museum grew out of a local antiquities society of the Japanese colonial period. It took over a display set up in Seonhwadang, a hall of the old provincial governor's office, and opened on 1 April 1946 as the Gongju branch of the National Museum, taking its current name in 1975. It moved into a new building in Jungdong, Gongju, in 1973, and in 2004 the museum moved to its present site in Ungjin-dong, close to the tombs. No other museum covers Gongju's years as Ungjin, the Baekje capital from 475 to 538, in such depth.

Ungjin Baekje Gallery: inside the royal tomb

The ground-floor gallery belongs to King Muryeong, Baekje's 25th ruler, and his queen. National Treasures line the room: the epitaph stones that named the tomb's owners, the stone guardian beast (jinmyosu) that stood at the entrance, the gold diadem ornaments, gold earrings and bronze mirrors. A case built to the exact size of the tomb floor holds the guardian, ritual vessels and the wooden coffins in their original positions, so it feels as if you are standing inside the chamber.

Details worth a closer look:

• The queen's epitaph stone: one side records that she died in 526 and was moved to the great tomb in 529; the back is a "land purchase contract" buying the burial plot from the earth gods.
• Silver bracelets with dragons: an inscription inside says a craftsman named Dari made them for the queen in 520, so you can read the name of a Baekje artisan.
• The king's bronze mirror: a similar mirror was found in a tomb in Gunma, Japan, evidence of ties between Baekje and the Japanese islands.
• Gold earrings and gilt-bronze shoes: the king's earrings are 97.9–99.8% pure gold. The queen's gilt-bronze shoes, about 35 cm long, were ritual grave goods, never worn in life.
• The queen's headrest and footrest: painted with red cinnabar and decorated with gold leaf; the headrest shows a child born from a lotus bud who becomes an immortal.

Upstairs and outside

The first-floor History and Culture of Chungcheongnam-do Gallery follows the Geum River region from the Palaeolithic to the Joseon period. The Chungcheong Regional Storage, opened in 2021, is a visible storage facility: viewing bridges and glass walls let you look into the stores. There is also an Ungjin Baekje Children's Room where kids learn about Baekje through play (online booking). Outside, the "Garden of Guardians" holds 30 stone heritage pieces, 14 of them donated from the late Lee Kun-hee's collection, and a "Forest of Stone Beasts" with 12 haetae, tigers and sheep that children enjoy.

The storage building can hold up to 1.5 million objects. A viewing bridge passes two-level mobile racks 5 m high, and behind glass, storeroom 7 holds key Mahan and Baekje pottery and storeroom 10 metal finds. A 1:65 model of the building in the basement explains the museum work visitors usually never see. The Digital Immersive Theatre shows a film of about 8 minutes to around 10 people per session; book on site, and note there are no shows from 12:00 to 13:00.

Tripto tips

• Opening hours: 09:00–18:00, weekends and holidays included. Closed Mondays (or the next weekday if Monday is a public holiday), 1 January, and Seollal and Chuseok days.
• Admission: permanent galleries free; special exhibitions may charge.
• Time needed: an hour for the Ungjin Baekje Gallery alone, 1–2 hours with the storage and gardens.
• Combine it: see the Tomb of King Muryeong and the royal tombs first, then the real finds here; add Gongsanseong Fortress for a full Baekje day in Gongju.
• Getting there: city bus 108 runs from Gongju Intercity Bus Terminal to the museum. Bus 125 stops at the Arts Center, about 800 m away on foot. A taxi from the terminal takes around 15 minutes.
• Good to know: the free app "National Museum Exhibition Guide" uses Bluetooth beacons to describe key objects in Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese. Bring your own earphones.