For some historical context on Gongju, read my survey of Baekje capital moves first.
After the fall of Wiryeseong to Goguryeo (the kingdom which controlled modern day North Korea into China) in 475, Baekje moved it's capital south to Gongju (then known as Ungjin). Situated in the mountainous interior, Gongju hosted a revival of Baekje culture. In the summer of 2012, I took a day trip to Gongju to see what easily accessible historical sites and museums were present.
There are several things to do in Gongju: several temples, the fortress, the national museum, and the burial mounds museum. I was not able to visit the national museum, as I was there on a Monday, and I ran out of time to see the temples, but I did see the fortress and burial mounds. Below we'll look at the historical information about Gongju as well as how accessible the history is to an English speaking tourist.
In 475, Baekje was on the retreat. King Gaero had just died in the capital of Wiryeseong, which now lay in the hands of Goguryeo. Baekje was smaller than the other two kingdoms on the peninsula. Their success, and even their survival was built upon foreign trade. Both the northern and southern dynasties of China traded heavily with Baekje throughout it's history. Additionally, Baekje had considerable ties to and influence in Japan. The foundation of this trade was the Han River basin.
Modern Korea sees no foreign trade on the Han River. Though the river is perfectly navigable by large ships, the mouth of the river opens into North Korean waters. The deep water port of the capital is Incheon, not Seoul. But at the time of Baekje, that was not the case. The tidal basin of Incheon (with mudflats that stretch for a half mile or more) made a poor anchorage. Instead, trade came directly into Wiryeseong via the Han River. The loss of the Han River basin to Goguryeo threatened the very survival of the kingdom, something had to be done to stabilize the situation.
Ungjin (Bear Port) was selected by King Munju as the new capital in an effort to mitigate the disadvantages of Wiryeseong's location while maintaining active trade. Situated in much more rugged terrain, but along Geum River, the fifth longest river in Korea. The Geum river continued to bring trade to Baekje while the River and mountainous terrain combined to provide a much more defensible position. The first two kings to reign in Ungjin did little more than stabilize the kingdom. But King Dongseong (동성왕, 479-501) began to lead Baekje from recession through a marriage-alliance with Silla. After King Dongseong, King Muryeong (무령왕, 501-523) re-established consistent foreign trade by opening amicable relations with the Liang dynasty in China. This trade opening was the beginning of a second peak in Baekje culture which would eventually lead to relocating the capital to Buyeo, closer to the mouth of the Geum River to facilitate easier trade.
The most famous historic site in Gongju is actually connected with King Muryeong. Baekje royal burials involved the construction of a mound over a room. Seven such mounds have been discovered in Gongju and it is possible there are more. The first 6 mounds, numbered in order of discovery, were discovered by the colonial Japanese government between 1910 and 1945. Reportedly, these tombs had already been stripped bare when they were discovered, but there are other confirmed cases of Japanese archaeologists reporting digs had been looted to the Koreans while taking the artifacts back to Japan for private or national collections and most believe that is what happened to these 6 mounds. But the 7th mound was not discovered during this time. After the colonial period and the Korean war, the mounds were opened to the public. In 1971, while irrigation work was being done on mounds 5 and 6, the discovered the tomb. Very few intact Baekje tombs have been discovered, and King Muryeong's tomb yielded nearly 3,000 artifacts classified into 108 categories, a treasure trove of cultural and historical information.
The original tomb is not open to the public. The exposure to outside air was damaging the tomb. But a replica of the tomb (and of the other 6 tombs) has been created nearby. The descriptions and signage was in Korean and English, and the translations were good. We were also given a guide to explain the tombs as we went. Although most of what she said was on the signs, she was really helpful and eager to answer questions, though I would have preferred a more leisurely pace as we went through the exhibit.
In my next post, we'll look at Gongsanseong Fortress (공산성). I will have photos for that, as I was able to take some pictures there.
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