Qualla: Royal Tombs of the Goryeo Dynasty

Royal Tombs of the Goryeo Dynasty: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Pavelka from Austin, TX, USA, CC BY 2.0. Inside one tomb, 158 dogs are painted on the walls. Inside another, the ceiling maps twenty-eight stars and six constellations. A third holds nothing but an earthen mound and silence. The Royal Tombs of the Goryeo Dynasty are scattered across the hills of southwestern North Hwanghae Province, most within twenty kilometers of Kaesong, the old capital. They span nearly five centuries of Korean kingship, from the dynasty's founder in the early tenth century to its last effective ruler in the late fourteenth. No two are alike in condition, but together they form one of the most important archaeological landscapes on the Korean Peninsula.

Image: John Pavelka from Austin, TX, USA | CC BY 2.0

Royal Tombs of the Goryeo Dynasty: Where to Bury a King

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Pavelka from Austin, TX, USA, CC BY 2.0. Goryeo tomb placement was not arbitrary. The royal court followed guidelines from Chinese Confucian texts -- the Book of Rites and the Rites of Zhou -- but filtered them through the Korean practice of pungsu, the local tradition of geomantic site selection. Distance from the capi...

Image: John Pavelka from Austin, TX, USA | CC BY 2.0

Royal Tombs of the Goryeo Dynasty: The Founder's Controversial Restoration

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Pavelka from Austin, TX, USA, CC BY 2.0. The tomb of King Taejo -- Wang Geon, who founded the Goryeo dynasty in 918 and unified the Korean Peninsula by 936 -- is known as Hyonnung. Located on the side of Mount Mansu in Kaepung County, it originally contained the king and his favorite wife, Queen Sinhye. In 1994, the Nor...

Image: John Pavelka from Austin, TX, USA | CC BY 2.0

Royal Tombs of the Goryeo Dynasty: Painted Chambers and Star Ceilings

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Pavelka from Austin, TX, USA, CC BY 2.0. The most artistically significant tombs are those with surviving wall murals. Anrung, the burial place of King Jongjong, the third Goryeo monarch, contains paintings of landscapes and hunting scenes, with a ceiling decorated with twenty-eight stars and six constellations. These m...

Image: John Pavelka from Austin, TX, USA | CC BY 2.0

Royal Tombs of the Goryeo Dynasty: From Splendor to Bare Earth

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Pavelka from Austin, TX, USA, CC BY 2.0. The condition of the royal tombs varies dramatically. Yongrung, holding King Kyongjong, retains its original stone railings and guardian statues in good condition. Kongmin's tomb -- the best preserved of all -- still has its carved granite bases, stone sheep and tigers, and the s...

Image: John Pavelka from Austin, TX, USA | CC BY 2.0