·The 'Silla Cultural Heritage Series', which explains 10 treasures of Silla selected by visitors to the Gyeongju National Museum.
·A clue to appreciating clay figurines and tou, which embody the aesthetic sensibility of the Silla people in a rustic yet unique way.
· A guidebook containing insights from those who have dealt with artifacts up close and in the most detail.

The 'Silla Cultural Heritage Series' is a series planned by the Gyeongju National Museum to provide higher-quality and differentiated exhibition commentary.
The following are explained: the Cheonmachong gold crown, golden sword, earthenware-decorated jar, face-patterned water taps, Hwangryongsa chimi, King Seongdeok's new bell, Baekryulsa gilt-bronze Bhaisajyaguru Buddha statue, Gim Eunsa sarira reliquary, Jangchanggok stone Maitreya triad, and gilt-bronze scissors with a wick.
The ten treasures featured in this series were selected through direct voting by visitors to the National Gyeongju Museum.
In other words, it can be said to be the Silla cultural heritage most loved by Koreans.


The "Silla Cultural Heritage Series" was written by current and former curators and Korea's top researchers who are most familiar with and have extensive experience with the artifacts, all written in a way that is accessible to the general public.
It can be said to be a guidebook that combines reliability and popularity in its interpretation of relics.
It contains a wealth of photos of artifacts that cannot be found anywhere else, and difficult historical terms are explained separately to help with understanding.
The third treasure in the ‘Silla Cultural Heritage Series’ is a clay-decorated jar.

A tou is a small clay doll the size of one or two finger joints.
It is a type of miniature that expresses the daily life of the Silla people, including people, animals, and musical instruments.
Two wooden jars decorated with toe decorations are designated as national treasures, and were excavated from Gyerim-ro and Nodong-dong, Gyeongju, respectively.
A rough yet ingenious tow decoration unfolds around the jug's shoulder and neck, almost like a panorama.


《Tou Decorated Jar》 explains in detail the reason why the tou revealed itself after 1,600 years and why the Silla people attached these small clay figurines to earthenware and placed them in tombs.
In this process, not only can we get a glimpse into the Silla people's attitude toward death, but we can also feel a sense of kinship with them despite the long gap of 1,600 years.

The Silla people mainly decorated the lids of dishes with curved legs or the necks of wooden jars with tou.
It expresses the spiritual world of the Silla people who wish for abundance and fertility.
If you look closely, it has a very simple shape, but it's interesting that you can still figure out what it's expressing.

---From "Introductory Remarks"

We cannot clearly know in which tomb and in what condition the large number of Silla earthenware figures excavated from the Hwangnam-ri stone tomb in Gyeongju were buried.
This is because almost no data was left behind at the time of excavation, and no excavation report was published afterwards.
Additionally, there were many cases where the clay was attached to the pottery at the time of excavation, but fell off due to careless handling, and the clay was stored individually.
The National Museum of Korea is currently working on restoration work to reassemble the separated earthenware and attach it to the pottery.

---From "Meeting a Small Clay Doll"

The earthenware discovered in Hwangnam-dong had not been organized, and the combination of the earthenware and the earthenware had not been perfectly restored, making it difficult to interpret their meaning.
However, the Cheoksam area is a valuable historical site that provides abundant data for the study of pottery decorated with clay, as excavations are being conducted using current advanced technology.
---From "The Clay Doll We Met Again"

The artifacts excavated from Gyerim-ro and Nodong-dong are the same long-necked jars, but their detailed designs are very different.
The Gyerim-ro wooden jar has a round body like a ball, but the Nodong-dong excavated jar has square shoulders and the center of the body is cut in half like a round ball.

---From "Looking into the National Treasure Tou Jar"

Humans are beings bound by finite time.
You can take charge of your own life, but you can also be inevitably dragged along by the will of others due to power, status, or social standing.
Ancient sources that provide a glimpse into the true nature of human existence are very rare.
That is why Silla clay figures, which boldly and sometimes simply show the cycle of birth, aging, illness, and death, come closer than any detailed painting.
---From "Tou that Reproduces Silla Life and Its Meaning"

Looking at the animal figurines, it feels like looking at a zoo from the Silla era.
These animal figurines were attached to the lids of pottery, and they appear in combinations of the same type, different types of animals, or even with people.
Not only animals living in the world of sky, land, and water are confirmed, but even the imaginary animal dragon is confirmed.
It is also very interesting that monkeys, which do not currently live in our country, were made into toucan.
---From "Tou that Reproduces Silla Life and Its Meaning"

The debate over whether the small clay figurines modeled after people, animals, and objects were simply created to capture the daily lives and wishes of the Silla people, or whether they were intended to preserve the memories and performances of shamans, is at another starting point.

---From "Outgoing Words"