·The 'Silla Cultural Heritage Series', which explains 10 treasures of Silla selected by visitors to the Gyeongju National Museum.
A friendly guidebook that provides a clue to appreciating the face-patterned water lily, also known as the "Millennium Smile."
A guide that explains the long journey from the excavation site to the museum, including the production process and its meaning 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 fourth treasure in the ‘Silla Cultural Heritage Series’ is the face-patterned water-repellent tile.
The 'Face of Silla' face-patterned roof tiles that greet us with a mysterious smile as we enter Gyeongju are a unique relic whose identical pattern cannot be found even today.
It is also a cultural heritage that was discovered during the Japanese colonial period at Yeongmyosa Temple, which is full of anecdotes about Queen Seondeok, and then returned to its homeland after a long journey across the border.
It was the first tile to be designated as a national treasure.

《Face-patterned Sumaksae》 attempts to reveal the location and uniqueness of the face-patterned sumaksae produced in the first half of the 7th century through comparison with sumaksae from East Asia, including China and Japan, and through syntactic analysis.
It also stimulates the reader's historical imagination by presenting a process of tracing who became the model for the 'Millennium Smile'.


Reading “Face-patterned Roof Tiles” will allow you to imagine the feelings of the Silla potters, a thousand years later, as they created the face-patterned roof tiles and placed them on the roof.

During the Unified Silla period, various motifs were added to the water curtains, such as two birds paired together, a lion with a mane, and a Garubinga, an imaginary bird with a human head and arms and wings and a tail.
In this flow, there is a unique pattern that particularly catches the eye, which is the face pattern (人面文) water curtain.

---From "Introductory Remarks"

It was Tanaka's most treasured and favorite artifact among his lifelong collection, so he wanted to keep it by his side.
According to the bereaved family, Tanaka kept the face-patterned water dropwort in his room and always admired it.
If you observe the actual face-patterned roof tiles, you can clearly feel the traces of love they have received over time, as they have been smoothed by human hands for a long time, unlike other roof tiles collected from historical sites.

---From "The Journey of the Face-Patterned Water Lily"

There are many stories about Yeongmyosa Temple that are as mysterious as its name.
One of them is the story of Queen Seondeok hearing the croaking of frogs in the middle of winter at the Okmunji Pond of Yeongmyosa Temple, realizing that the Baekje army was lying in ambush at Yeogeungok Valley, and annihilating them.
There is also a legend that a spirit who was in love with Queen Seondeok waited for her in front of Yeongmyosa Temple, and while she was asleep, he saw a gold bracelet left by the king and his love burned down the pagoda.
---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 "The Uses of Face-Patterned Water-Cutting Cloths, Yeongmyosa"

Until now, the prevailing opinion was that the face-patterned water-covered tiles were not made from clay, but were shaped by hand.
Compared to the lotus patterned water curtain, in which petals of the same shape and size are evenly spread out around the ovary, which is a round pedestal, the asymmetrical structure of the face pattern and the somewhat rough expression make it look like the result of handwork.
However, if you actually observe the face-patterned roof tiles, you can see the wood grain marks characteristic of wooden roof tiles all over the roof tiles.
---From "Making a Face-Patterned Water Lily"

Imagine a scene where face-patterned eaves made from tiles are placed side by side at the end of the eaves.
It gives a different impression from the appearance of the roof decorated with lotus flowers.
As it has been used as a pattern on roof tiles for a long time and over a wide area, the expression of facial features also appears in a variety of ways.
---From "Tiles with Face Patterns"

Our face-patterned water dropwort is a unique entity that has never been found with the same pattern.
In the current situation where there are no direct records or similar cases left, it is difficult to determine how the face-patterned watermark was made.
By carving a pattern on a wooden frame, stamping the frame into clay, attaching a sukiwa, and firing it in a kiln, the craftsman must have had someone in mind.

---From "Outgoing Words"