The Museum Campus and Outdoor Exhibition

Wander rather than march. The Goseonsa pagoda dominates the lawn in front of the art building, but look also for the stone lantern with its eight-sided lamp chamber, the pair of stone Buddhas whose faces have been softened by centuries of weather, and the turtle bases that once carried tall inscribed slabs in memory of monks and kings. Many of the pieces are fragments, and the museum has arranged them so that you can see how a Silla temple was put together, from foundation stone to roof tile. The Divine Bell hangs in its pavilion at the front, and there is a good view of it from across the pond.

The campus sits on land that was part of the eastern palace of Silla, and the Wolji pond, with its reconstructed pavilions, is a short walk away. Beyond the museum fence the plain stretches toward Namsan, the mountain covered with Buddhist carvings, and toward the tumulus parks. On a fine day the outdoor exhibition is as rewarding as the galleries, and it is where most visitors take their photographs. In the evening, when the buildings close, the grounds stay open a little longer and the stones turn gold in the low light.

Did You Know? The museum stands on former palace ground, and digging for new buildings on the campus has repeatedly uncovered Silla remains beneath the lawns.