Baekje Historic Areas in Korea Listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List

Korea

On July 8, 2015 a collection of historical sites of the ancient Baekje Kingdom in South Korea gained international recognition by being listed on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Listed as the Baekje Historic Areas it constitutes important cultural heritage sites spread across the neighbouring cities of Gongju, Buyeo and Iksan.

Korea has a wealth of UNESCO World Heritage sites and the Baekje Historic areas become the twelfth site in Korea to be listed. For visitors to the country who are interested in Korea's history and culture it is a must to include some of these important historical sites in their travel plans.

Located in the mountainous mid-western region of the Republic of Korea, the Baekje Historic areas comprises eight archaeological sites dating from 475 to 660CE. They include the Gongsanseong Fortress and royal tombs at Songsan-ri related to the capital, Ungjin (present day Gongju), the Busosanseong Fortress and Gwanbuk-ri administrative buildings, and the Naseong city wall related to the capital, Sabi (now Buyeo), the royal palace at Wanggung-ri and the Mireuksa Temple in Iksan related to the secondary Sabi capital.

Together, these sites represent the later period of the Baekje Kingdom - one of the three earliest kingdoms on the Korean peninsula (18BCE to 660CE) - during which time they were at the crossroads of considerable technological, religious (Buddhist), cultural and artistic exchanges between the ancient East Asian kingdoms in Korea, China and Japan.

For more information on Korea's UNESCO World Heritage sites visit the Korea Tourism Organization Sydney website for details:

http://visitkorea.org.au/explore/unesco-world-heritage-sites/