Complex of Koguryo Tombs

Painted scenes of hunts, feasts and courtly ritual survive on the walls of tombs built for the kings and nobles of Koguryo, the kingdom that dominated northeast China and much of the Korean peninsula from the 3rd century BC to the 7th century AD. This site gathers some 30 burial mounds from the kingdom's later period — and since only around 90 painted tombs are known among the more than 10,000 Koguryo tombs found so far, the murals here are an almost unmatched window on a vanished culture. UNESCO granted World Heritage status in 2004.