Tombs, Observatories, and Ice Boxes

Continuing on through GyeongJu, we stopped at a park that had several ancient tombs and ruins. Notably, here were the humongous burial mounds of some of the original kings of the Shilla. Much like the pyramids, the bigger the better. Since it took a huge amount of money (to come up will all that dirt) and labor (to put it all there) bigger burial mounds are more respectful. Most Koreans still bury there ancestors in this manner. You can see clusters of tent sized lumps in the ground everywhere you go outside the city.


In this place were many ruins, but that just meant you could see the foundations of old buildings or the placement of pillars. Most things were built with wood back in the day. There was an interesting tower, similar to a rook for you chess fans. Though no one is exactly sure it's purpose, it has been theorized that the CheonMunDae was meant to be an astronomical observatory of sorts. In other words, it's the stonehenge of Asia.

We walked further back into the park through fields and fields of the wild flower Koreans identify as "Cosmos." Finally we reached the SeoBingGo, or stone ice closet. This underground building was used by the Shilla dynasty to store ice in during the winter so that some would remain in the summer. No one was allowed to walk inside since the floor still showed the drainage system that was dug into it. To think that people were storing ice for whole seasons at a time in 600 AD.