The respected Comrade
"We should unearth larger numbers of valuable historical sites and relics, thus enriching the storehouse of the nation's cultural heritage."
Palhae mural tomb of Kumsong ri discovered early in September, 2004 is situated in the low mountain slide about 500m far away from Kumsong ri(present Kumwi ri), Hwadae county in North Hamgyong Province.
This is the mural tomb of Palhae which was first discovered in our country.
This is one-room tomb with tomb chamber and inside path. The tomb chamber is under the ground. The size is 12m long from south to north, 8.5m from east to west, 0.5m high.
The tomb chamber is square in plane and it is faced slightly east and south. Its walls were constructed in 14-15 steps, with the relatively large and small stones in proper combination.
Between stones was filled with mud and plaster, and then plastered in 2-3 layers.
At the time of excavation, it was only slightly left on the eastern lower part of the north wall, just where was drawn a mural.
The floor of the tomb chamber was rubbed horizontally and then plastered 3 cm thick. Its ceiling is a flat one covered by three large slabs on a slightly inclined inside wall.
It is 324 cm long, 174 cm wide in lower part and 125 cm in upper part, and about 170 cm high.
A tube was placed in the center. It was made by covering 22 x 18 cm rubble and gravel on the floor, spreading charcoal 2 cm thick and polishing 2 cm thick. It is 247 cm long, 87 cm wide and 13 cm high.
The inner path was placed in the center of the south wall, and the front part was discovered to be collapsed. The main floor was tamped horizontally and plastered over it. The walls of the inner path were built up 45 cm long and 20 cm thick with broken stones, rubble stones and flat stones.
Between stones were filled with plaster and then placed in one or two layers of plasters. At the time of excavation, the plaster was almost dropped by the collapse of walls and ceilings, and only a little remained in the area of door-opening facilities.
The ceiling had already disappeared, and only the top stone with the headstone and the ceiling stone had been left 15 cm below above the headstone.
The top stone is 164 cm long, 140 cm wide and 40 cm thick, and the head stone is 125 cm long, 49 cm wide and 17 cm thick.
The remaining inner path is 204 cm long, 132 cm wide and 153 cm high.
The inner path and the tomb chamber is connected by a gate which is 22 cm narrower than the inner path and 32 cm lower.
But there was no trace of the door, and there was only one large stone leaned against the doorsill. The rubble is 129 cm wide, 31 cm thick and 164 cm high.
There were found bronze lotus plaque, a bronze knob, 3 bronze edge decorations, 6 pushpin-like bronze nails, a bronze strip, 38 iron pipe nails, 2 ink stones, several pieces of earthen wares, lacquered strips, slices of white birch bark, char and so on and 2 parts of human skull, arm bone, leg bone, spine, rib and so on.
There was a mural painting. Its main theme is the painting of characters' customs and decorative patterns, in red, black, blue, reddish brown.
On the lower part of the north wall is a painting of a man standing on the front with two legs open. Unfortunately we could not get the clear picture of the dress and his whole figure as the upper part of the mural was dropped, but rest part shows that it was wearing a light red dress, a white angle on his legs, and black shoes.
The remaining mural is 40cm wide and 24 cm high.
In the detached murals, murals of various themes, including figures estimated as birdlike cloud patterns, were also found. In particular, there are pictures of the spirit standing on the lotus stand, figures and various decorative patterns.
The upper waist part of the spirit was left out and only left the dress of the lower waist and lotus stand on the lower waist. The shape and folds of the dress are drawn with thin lines. The lotus is depicted in duplicate.
The various ornamental patterns are mainly painted in black, which is rhythmic.
The first discovery of the mural tomb of Palhae period provided another precious data for enriching the culture of Palhae.
