Gyeongnam Gaya Tumuli, Designated as World Heritage... Fruit of Over 10 Years of Effort

Final Decision on Registration at the 45th World Heritage Committee

The efforts of Gyeongnam Province to register the Gaya Tumuli as a World Heritage have borne fruit after more than 10 years.

On the 17th, Gyeongnam Province announced that the 7 Gaya Tumuli sites were finally decided to be registered as World Heritage at the 45th World Heritage Committee held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The registered Gaya Tumuli sites include in Gyeongnam ▲ Daeseong-dong in Gimhae ▲ Malsan in Haman ▲ Gyodong and Songhyeon-dong in Changnyeong ▲ Songhak-dong in Goseong ▲ Okjeon in Hapcheon, as well as Jisandong in Goryeong, Gyeongbuk, and Yugok-ri and Durak-ri in Namwon, Jeonbuk.

Seong Nak-in, Changnyeong County Governor (far left), Lee Sang-geun, Goseong County Governor, Park Wan-su, Governor of Gyeongnam Province, Hong Tae-yong, Mayor of Gimhae, Jo Geun-je, Haman County Governor, and Lee Seon-gi, Hapcheon Deputy County Governor, are celebrating the confirmation of the Gaya Tumuli World Heritage registration on the 17th.
[Photo by Gyeongnam Provincial Office]

According to Gyeongnam Province, the World Heritage Committee was attended by Park Wan-su, chairman of the Gaya Tumuli World Heritage Registration Promotion Committee and governor of the province, along with heads of local governments with tumuli sites in Gimhae, Haman, Goseong, Changnyeong, and Hapcheon.

Governor Park said, “With the registration of the Gaya Tumuli as a World Heritage, the value of Gaya civilization has been recognized worldwide,” and added, “We will do our best to closely cooperate with the government to preserve and manage the value of the Gaya Tumuli as a World Heritage site.”

With this decision by the World Heritage Committee, the seven tumuli groups representing the ancient state of ‘Gaya’ in the southern Korean Peninsula from the 1st to 6th centuries will officially be listed as World Heritage on the closing day of the committee, the 25th.

This is the sixteenth World Heritage site registered in South Korea and the fourth in Gyeongnam, following Haeinsa Janggyeong Panjeon registered in 1955, Tongdosa in 2018, and Namgye Seowon in 2019.

Gaya Tumuli Cluster confirmed as a World Heritage Site. [Image source: Cultural Heritage Administration]

The Gaya Tumuli are considered important relics that well represent ‘Gaya,’ which maintained a unique autonomous and horizontal system coexisting with neighboring countries through their geographical distribution, location, structure and scale of the tumuli, and burial goods, reflecting the diversity of ancient East Asian civilizations.

They met the World Heritage Committee’s evaluation criteria of being the “only or at least exceptional evidence of an existing or vanished cultural tradition or civilization,” and were recognized for their Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), which is important to all humanity both now and in the future.

According to Gyeongnam Province, the efforts to register the Gaya Tumuli as World Heritage began in 2012 and officially started in June 2013 with the application for the tentative list of the Gimhae Daeseong-dong Tumuli and Haman Malsan Tumuli.

In the same year, Goryeong in Gyeongbuk was selected as a registration candidate, followed by Hapcheon, Goseong, Changnyeong in Gyeongnam, and Namwon in Jeonbuk in 2017, involving three provinces and seven cities/counties working together. The application for World Heritage registration was submitted in 2021.

The three provinces including Gyeongnam received a recommendation for World Heritage registration from ICOMOS, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, a UNESCO advisory body, in May this year, and the registration was confirmed at 9:28 PM on the 17th.

Gyeongnam Province expects that with the registration of the Gaya Tumuli, the Gaya cultural zone from 1,500 years ago will be revived and reappraised globally as Gaya in the world.

Furthermore, while fully preserving the World Heritage Gaya Tumuli, they plan to create infrastructure for the Gaya historical and cultural zone that actively utilizes the tumuli and artifacts to properly promote the value of Gaya history worldwide and attract visitors from around the globe.

Governor Park Wansu of Gyeongnam Province is awaiting the results of the Gaya Tumuli World Heritage inscription review.
[Photo by Gyeongnam Provincial Government]

The Gaya Tumuli registered as World Heritage will be subject to preservation, management, and utilization projects under the “Special Act on the Preservation, Management, and Utilization of World Heritage,” receiving various support such as promotion and performances.

The province plans to develop a historical and cultural tourism hub linked to Gaya heritage to revitalize the Gaya Tumuli area as a representative cultural heritage of Gyeongnam and strengthen Gyeongnam tourism capabilities connected with the South Coast tourism belt.

Haman will invest a total of 10 billion KRW to renovate the Malsan Tumuli area from next year until 2026, creating spaces and cultural landscapes to enjoy the history and culture of Ara Gaya.

Gimhae and Goseong also plan to systematically renovate the Gaya Tumuli by promoting project contests for the maintenance of the Gaya historical and cultural zone.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.