Tomb of Queen Seondeok, Gyeongju

This is the tomb of Queen Seondeok (r. 632–647), the first female ruler and 27th monarch of Silla. It is a round earthen mound tomb 6.8 m high and 23.6 m in diameter, with two to three tiers of retaining stones of natural rock built around its base. Queen Seondeok was a daughter of King Jinpyeong (r. 579–632), who had no son, and she became queen under seonggol, the special Silla system of royal bone-rank status reserved for those of purest royal blood. She built Cheomseongdae Observatory, Bunhwangsa Temple, and the nine-story wooden pagoda of Hwangnyongsa Temple, and together with Kim Yu-sin and Kim Chunchu she laid the foundations for the unification of the Three Kingdoms. According to the Samguk sagi, the queen asked to be buried in Doricheon, the Buddhist heaven, but when her officials could not understand where this was, she herself told them that Doricheon was the summit of Nangsan Mountain. It is said that after King Munmu unified the Three Kingdoms, he built Sacheonwangsa Temple on Nangsan Mountain, and only then did people come to understand the queen's meaning. The tomb's official designation was renamed from "Silla Tomb of Queen Seondeok" to "Tomb of Queen Seondeok, Gyeongju" on 28 July 2011.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Historic Site · 사적