·The 'Silla Cultural Heritage Series', which explains 10 treasures of Silla selected by visitors to the Gyeongju National Museum.
·A Complete Guidebook on the Golden Sword and the Sword of a Foreigner Discovered in Silla
A guide that explains everything from the excavation process to recent research results in an easy-to-understand and detailed manner.

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 second treasure in the ‘Silla Cultural Heritage Series’ is the Gyerim-ro Golden Sword.
The Golden Sword is a dagger discovered in 1973 in a small tomb on Gyerim-ro, Gyeongju, and is characterized by its ornate decoration.
This was a very different shape from the Silla swords that had been excavated from Silla tombs, causing great concern among researchers.
Rather, it resembles the Borovoe dagger of Kazakhstan as a sibling, and European archaeologists also showed extraordinary interest.
《Golden Sword》included the contents of the excavation report 〈Tomb No. 14, Gyerim-ro, Gyeongju〉 published in 2010, and even estimated the production site and production group based on the results of a non-destructive testing investigation conducted by the Gyeongju National Museum.

In 1973, a uniquely shaped sword was excavated from a small tomb on Gyerim-ro, Gyeongju.
Domestic researchers who came across this data were deeply troubled.
This is because the shape of the sword was very different from the swords of Silla that had been excavated from Silla tombs so far.

---From "Introductory Remarks"

This process of inserting jewels is called inlaying.
The gems inlaid were garnet and glass.
At first, the red gem was seen with the naked eye and was thought to be agate, but after analyzing it using various equipment, it was found to be garnet, a rare stone in Silla.
Glass was a gem that was considered more precious than gold at the time.
When it comes to wide spaces, glass is used.

---From "Was the Golden Sword Made by the Silla People?"

To know when the golden sword was made, we need to know when the tomb where the sword is buried, Tomb No. 14 in Gyerim-ro, Gyeongju, was built, that is, the construction date of the tomb.
The construction date of a tomb can be estimated by comparing it with similar artifacts excavated from other tombs.
Yes, because the design of objects changes with the times.
---From "When, Where, and Who Made It?"

Considering that it is generally easy to imitate the form but not the manufacturing technique, it seems likely that the product was made by a skilled goldsmith.
That is, we can think of it as a group that requested an image of a dagger in the form of a golden sword, and a group with the manufacturing technology produced it.

---From "When, Where, and Who Made It?"

How did something made in such a distant region end up in Silla? In addition to the golden sword, various other foreign artifacts have been unearthed from Silla tombs dating from the 4th to 6th centuries.
Representative examples include a silver cup made using the stamping technique excavated from the northern mound of Hwangnamdaechong Tomb, a gold bracelet decorated with colored gemstones (gamok jade), and over 25 glass vessels discovered.

---From "How was it transmitted to Silla?"

On the floor where the body and coffin had rotted away, two pairs of gold earrings were found, as if they had been attached to the ears of the corpse, and teeth were found between the earrings.
The two people were buried side by side.
(…) The golden sword was held by the person buried on the left.
He was also wearing a silver belt.
The person on the right also carried a long sword.
These ornaments, including gold earrings, indicate that both were people of high status.
So how could two people be buried at the same time?
---From "Who is the owner of the golden sword?"

It is very difficult to find out the actual appearance of a place 1,500 years ago based only on the data obtained from archaeological excavations.
So, archaeologists are letting their imagination run wild.

---From "Outgoing Words"