Gongju National Museum: Queen Muryeong's coffin treasures — headrest on view to 8 Nov

Gongju National Museum has brought back out the things that were buried beside King Muryeong's queen, to mark 1,500 years since her death. Because the display sits inside the Ungjin Baekje Gallery, part of the free permanent exhibition, there is no ticket to buy — but the two most important pieces, her headrest and footrest, are out for just two weeks, until 8 November. After that the coffin ornaments and the rest of the display remain, so decide what you want to see before you pick the day.

Which pieces are on view, and until when?

The museum says none of the three is normally in the permanent display. From 9 November you will see the coffin ornaments and the core display; from 14 December, the core display alone. 8 November is a Sunday, so in practice this weekend is the last chance for the two National Treasures, and no extension has been announced.

How is the gallery laid out?

The space is modelled on the queen's coffin. It shows how she was laid out and where each object was placed, with the tableware that sat by her head, her jewellery and the funerary goods. Illustrations by the history cartoonist Woo Yong-gok run through the display, which makes it easy going with children even if the panels are in Korean.

What makes the headrest special?

The headrest is a block of wood with a half-moon hollow cut into the top to cradle the head. It is lacquered red all over and then covered in a lattice of gold-leaf hexagons; according to the e-museum catalogue entry, the hexagons enclose painted lotuses, phoenixes and celestial figures. Two phoenix heads carved from wood are thought to have rested on top.

What does the footrest look like?

The footrest is a block of wood with a deep W-shaped groove cut down the middle to hold both feet. Like the headrest it is finished in red lacquer with a gold-leaf border, and it was among the finds from the tomb designated as National Treasures together in 1974.

The coffin ornaments, on view to 13 December

The coffin ornaments are a pair of thin gold sheets cut through with flame and lotus patterns, and they stay on view until 13 December — more than a month after the headrest and footrest go back. If you miss 8 November, these are what remains of the special display.

What else was buried with the queen?

The photographs below are other grave goods of Queen Muryeong published on e-museum. The museum says only that jewellery and funerary goods are on display and has not released a full object list, so we could not confirm whether these pieces are in the gallery. Treat them as background on what she was buried with; if you are travelling for one particular object, ask the museum first on +82 41-850-6300.

How was the Muryeong royal tomb found?

• July 1971 — the tomb was found during work on the Songsan-ri tomb group in Gongju (now Geumseong-dong) and excavated.
• Finds — more than 4,600 objects, including gold and silver jewellery, bronze mirrors, wooden objects and ceramics.
• 9 July 1974 — 17 items in 12 categories from the tomb were designated National Treasures.
• The memorial stones — King Muryeong died in the fifth month of 523 and was interred in the eighth month of 525; the queen died in the eleventh month of 526 and was interred in the second month of 529.

The exhibition's "1,500th anniversary" counts from 526, the year of the queen's death on her memorial stone. Because those stones name the occupants outright, the Muryeong tomb is one of the very few royal tombs of the Three Kingdoms period whose owner and date are known for certain.

Getting there, and what to expect if you do not read Korean

Gongju is about an hour and a half to two hours from Seoul by express bus to Gongju bus terminal; the KTX stops at Gongju Station, which is well outside the town, so the bus is usually simpler. From the terminal, a taxi to the museum is short. The museum sits beside the Songsan-ri tomb group, where the Muryeong tomb itself is, so the two make one visit — the tomb interiors are closed, and a replica exhibition hall at the tomb site shows what they look like. National museum labels usually give an English object name, but the longer theme panels and the cartoon illustrations are in Korean. Nothing needs booking, so a foreign phone number is never an issue here.