Maitreya Buddha of Samneung Valley, Gyeongju
One of the cool things about Gyeongu is that it’s literally covered with ancient stone Buddhas from the Unified Shilla Dynasty (통일 신라), most dating back to around the 7th or 8th centuries C.E. Very little is generally known about the sculptors who chiseled out these masterpieces way back when, though they were probably carved as a form of Buddhist meditation practice. Heck, every mountain around here has at least one ancient Buddha on it and Mt. Namsan (남산) has at least a few dozen.
If you’re a history junky like me, or you’re just looking to do some hiking or sight-seeing, here are my personal top 10 ancient stone Buddhas of Gyeongju. As this post has snowballed into something bigger than I’d planned, so I’m splitting it into 2 parts. Here are 10 through 6 on my list. I’ll be posting my top 5 here in a day or two.
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