Complex of Koguryo Tombs World Heritage Site

Official name

Complex of Koguryo Tombs | UNESCO

Country

North Korea | Map

Continent

Asia

Location

Pyongyang, South Phyongan Province, Nampho, South Hwangghae Province
38.8630° Lat, 125.4150° Lon | Map

Code

1091

Time Zone

Asia/Pyongyang (KST, +0900)

Current Time

Category

Cultural

Description

Inscribed 2004. The property includes several group and individual tombs - totalling about 30 individual tombs - from the later period of the Koguryo Kingdom, one of the strongest kingdoms in nowadays northeast China and half of the Korean peninsula between the 3rd century BC to 7th century AD. The tombs, many with beautiful wall paintings, are almost the only remains of this culture. Only about 90 out of more than 10,000 Koguryo tombs discovered in China and Korea so far, have wall paintings. Almost half of these tombs are located on this site and they are thought to have been made for the burial of kings, members of the royal family and the aristocracy. These paintings offer a unique testimony to daily life of this period.