Exhibition guide

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

Visit details

  • Dates: From Wednesday May 20, 2026 to Monday August 31, 2026: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
  • Venue: Musée Guimet, 6, place d'Iéna, Paris
  • Price: De 0 à 15 euros.
  • Audience: All audiences
  • Source: Event page

About the exhibition

A city whose inhabitants are fully invested in the protection of their heritage.

From the 4th to the beginning of the 6th century, the so-called maripgan period marks a decisive stage in the affirmation of the identity of the Silla with the rise of the Kim clan. The treasures of iron, gold, silver, glass and stone of the Silla constitute a living heritage, still perceptible in the landscape of Gyeongju as in the collective memory.

The exhibition brings together an exceptional collection of emblematic pieces, including many national treasures presented for the first time outside South Korea. Gold becomes the dazzling signature of the kingdom, a symbol of consolidated power. Nestled between wooded mountains and rolling plains, the city of Gyeongju, capital of Silla, still offers one of the most unique landscapes in South Korea today. Revealed by historical chronicles and then by archaeological excavations, the arts of Silla appear today as a living heritage, at the heart of the cultural memory of the Korean peninsula. Pagodas, royal mounds and monumental remains interact with the lines of a contemporary city attentive to the preservation of its heritage. The treasures exhumed from royal tombs (golden crowns, jade ornaments, ornate jewelry, figurative sandstone) bear witness to exceptional know-how and a kingdom present on the trade routes linking Japan, China, the steppe, Central Asia and even the Mediterranean worlds. This unique 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 in medieval Korean chronicles, to the fall of the kingdom, the exhibition is divided into five thematic sections which retrace the history, artistic expressions and memory of a state that is both powerful and deeply anchored in spiritual traditions. The visiPolitical prestige and artistic splendor blend together, giving birth to a visual language of exceptional inventiveness.

During the unified Silla (676–935), the kingdom established itself as the dominant southern power, with Buddhism as a spiritual force and protector of the territory. It offers a renewed reading of this civilization, revealing the way in which political, religious and aesthetic dynamics intertwined to produce a heritage that has reached us.

Transported to the origins of the landscape city Gyeongju, in the south-east of Korea, visitors will discover the traces of a civilization of which the mountains, the immense “mountain tombs”, the temples and modern life still bear the imprint. Precious materials formerly reserved for royal tombs now find their place in monasteries, pagodas, reliquaries and sacred images.