Wanggung-ri Historic Site

Wanggung-ri means the village of the royal palace, and excavation from the 1980s onward showed the name was accurate: a walled rectangular precinct of the early seventh century, laid out with a raised platform for state buildings at the front, a garden with imported rockwork behind, workshops producing gold and glass, and - the find that made the site famous among archaeologists - a set of large communal latrines with drainage, which yielded parasite evidence and wooden hygiene sticks and is the clearest picture anywhere of sanitation in the period. Later, the palace was converted into a temple, and the five-storey stone pagoda that stands on the site belongs to that phase; a gilt-bronze reliquary and a gold plate inscribed with the Diamond Sutra were recovered from it. It is part of the Baekje Historic Areas UNESCO listing. The ground is open grass with foundations marked; the museum next to it carries the finds and the interpretation.

What you actually see

• The five-storey pagoda - standing on the later temple phase.
• The palace platform - foundations marked across the precinct.
• The workshop and latrine areas - the excavated service quarters.
• The museum - the reliquary, the sutra plate and the sanitation finds.

When to go

April to June and September to November. It is exposed ground with little shade. Weekdays are almost empty.

Honest expectations

Apart from the pagoda there is nothing standing - this is a lawn with outlines, and the museum does the explaining. Both are free. Allow the museum first or the field will not mean much.

Nearby

Mireuksa temple site is a few kilometres north; Iksan city is close.