Gyeongju National Museum to Reunite Six Silla Golden Crowns Every 10 Years
Creatrip Team
6 months ago
Gyeongju National Museum held a landmark exhibition, "Silla Gold Crowns: Power and Prestige," bringing together all six known Silla gold crowns and six gold belts for the first time. The special show opened to the public on November 2 and attracted about 251,052 visitors through Feb. 9, averaging 2,561 daily, with total attendance expected to near 300,000 by the exhibition’s close on Feb. 22. Interest surged after President Lee gifted a model of the Cheonmachong crown to former U.S. President Donald Trump during APEC, prompting long pre-opening queues and an "open-run" phenomenon. The museum limited daily visitors and extended the run. Gyeongju plans to stage this crown-focused exhibition every ten years, with the 2035 edition to include domestic and international crowns and to reinterpret crowns as "sseugae" (a head-covering form) beyond wreath-like headbands. While Gyeongju aims to strengthen its museum brand and some propose permanently centralizing the six crowns there, frequent loans and overseas shows—in France and China among others—mean the crowns will likely continue circulating globally.
