Silla : l’Or et le Sacré Trésors royaux de Corée (57 av. J.-C.- 935)

Thanks to an exceptional collaboration with the Gyeongju National Museum and other South Korean and French museum institutions, the Musée Guimet presents, for the first time in Europe, an exhibition on the Silla kingdom (57 BCE - 935 CE), one of the most brilliant civilisations of East Asia.

Revealed by historical chronicles and then by archaeological excavations, the arts of Silla now appear as a living heritage, at the heart of the cultural memory of the Korean peninsula.

This unprecedented presentation highlights a kingdom where, for nearly a millennium, art, spirituality, and power combined to shape a remarkably rich culture.

From the mythical origins of Silla, recounted by medieval Korean chronicles, to the fall of the kingdom, the exhibition unfolds in five thematic sections that trace the history, artistic expressions, and memory of a state that was both powerful and deeply rooted in spiritual traditions.

It offers a renewed reading of this civilisation, revealing how political, religious, and aesthetic dynamics intertwined to produce a heritage that has reached us.

Transported to the origins of the city-landscape Gyeongju, in southeastern Korea, visitors will discover traces of a civilisation whose mountains, immense “mountain-tombs,” temples, and modern life still bear its imprint.

A city whose inhabitants are fully invested in the protection of their heritage. From the 4th to the early 6th century, the so-called Maripgan period marks a decisive stage in the affirmation of Silla's identity with the rise of the Kim clan.

Gold became the kingdom's dazzling signature, a symbol of consolidated power.

The treasures exhumed from royal tombs (gold crowns, jade ornaments, elaborate jewellery, figurative stoneware) bear witness to exceptional craftsmanship and a kingdom present on the trade routes connecting Japan, China, the steppe, Central Asia, and even the Mediterranean worlds.

Political prestige and artistic splendour merge there, giving birth to a visual language of exceptional inventiveness. During the Unified Silla (676–935), the kingdom established itself as a southern power d