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Gimhae is a city of about 536,000 people in South Gyeongsang Province in southeastern South Korea, set west of the Nakdong River beside Busan. From the middle of the 1st century to the end of the 4th it was the capital of Geumgwan Gaya, the leading state of the Gaya confederacy, and it is the seat of the large Gimhae Kim clan.
Legend says King Suro was born here in AD 42 from a golden egg sent down to Gujibong Peak, and that his queen Heo Hwang-ok sailed in from the distant land of Ayuta. Their tombs, the royal graves of Daeseong-dong and the shell mound of Bonghwang-dong all survive in the city, and Gimhae National Museum tells the story of Gaya as a kingdom of iron.
Today the city is also known as the birthplace of President Roh Moo-hyun, whose home village of Bongha draws many visitors. Gimhae International Airport lies just to the east, and the Busan-Gimhae Light Rail, opened in 2011, links the city to Busan.
The Tomb of King Suro in Gimhae is the round burial mound, about 5 metres high, of the legendary founder of Geumgwan Gaya and ancestor of the Gimhae Kim clan. It lies in a large royal park with the Sungseonjeon shrine; given its present form in 1580, it was robbed during the Imjin War.
The Tomb of Queen Heo Hwang-ok on a hillside in Gusan-dong is the burial mound of King Suro's wife, who in the Samguk Yusa sailed to Gaya at sixteen from the far land of Ayuta. A low stone wall rings the 5-metre mound, and a stele raised in 1647 before it names her Empress Boju.
Gujibong Peak, a low hill in Gusan-dong, Gimhae, said to look like a turtle, is where, in the Samguk Yusa, the nine chiefs sang the Gujiga in AD 42 to welcome King Suro, born from a golden egg sent from heaven. On its summit lies a dolmen whose capstone is carved Gujibongseok.
The Pasa Stone Pagoda beside Queen Heo's tomb in Gimhae is a small, roughly carved stone pagoda that, says the Samguk Yusa, she brought by ship from Ayuta to calm the sea god. A Joseon magistrate moved it here from the old Hogyesa temple site, and a 2019 study found the stone contains pyrophyllite.
Gimhae National Museum opened on 29 July 1998 at the foot of Gujibong to bring together the heritage of Gaya. Its main building, faced in black brick that evokes iron ore and charcoal, honours Gaya as a kingdom of iron, and galleries renewed in 2024 trace how Gaya formed and how its people lived.
Daeseong-dong Tumuli cover a low ridge about 300 metres long in Gimhae where the ruling elite of Geumgwan Gaya was buried from the 1st to the 5th century. Digs found dolmens, pit tombs and wooden chamber tombs with pottery, iron goods and Chinese bronze mirrors, and the hill is now a Historic Site.
Daeseong-dong Tombs Museum opened on 29 August 2003 right beside the Daeseong-dong Tumuli to keep and display the objects excavated from the Gaya royal cemetery. An extension with a special exhibition hall opened in 2009, and the museum also carries out its own archaeological surveys.
Bonghwang-dong Site joins the Gimhae shell mound, first surveyed in 1907, with the Gaya settlement on the hill of Bonghwangdae. Finds include red and grey pottery, iron axes, bone tools, carbonised rice and a coin minted by Wang Mang of China's Xin dynasty, evidence of early farming and of trade.
Gimhae Gaya Theme Park opened on 22 May 2015 with brightly painted halls in the style of the ancient Gaya kingdom whose capital was Gimhae. Besides the palace buildings it has a small zoo, a performance hall and a playground for children, and residents of Gimhae pay a reduced entry fee.
Yeonji Park is a lakeside park in Gimhae set around a large pond planted with lotus and other water plants and circled by walking paths. Its musical fountain floats on a platform 50 metres long and 30 metres wide with sun, mist, peacock and wave jets, and its lights and sound were upgraded in 2023.
Bongha Village in Jinyeong-eup is the farming village below the beacon hill of Bonghwasan where Roh Moo-hyun, 16th President of South Korea, was born and spent his last years. His house opened to the public in 2019 as the President's House, and the Hwapocheon wetland nearby draws walkers.
Clayarch Gimhae Museum opened on 24 March 2006 as an art museum in Gimhae, its name joining the words clay and architecture. Its round main hall is wrapped in a bright patchwork of coloured ceramic tiles, so the building itself works as a great piece of ceramic art seen across its forecourt.
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