Daegu holds layers most visitors skip: an 8th-century Silla hermitage on a granite peak, the modern alleys where missionaries and Japanese merchants built rival worlds, and the school corridors where students marched on 28 February 1960.
A 4m seated Buddha carved around 638 AD sits on Gwanbong peak wearing a flat granite 'hat' (gat). The 1,365-step climb takes 50 minutes from Gatbawi Park. Believers say it grants one wish; on exam days thousands of parents queue before dawn. Open 24h.
Founded 493 AD and rebuilt in 832 by monk Simji, who named it 'Paulownia Flower Temple' after blossoms opened in midwinter. The Treasure No. 243 rock-carved Buddha and the 33m Yaksa Yeorae stone Buddha, carved 1992 from a single granite block, anchor the grounds.
The archaeology hall covers Jinhan-confederacy burial goods from Bisan-dong and gilt-bronze crowns from Silla-period tombs across Gyeongsangbuk-do. A separate hall traces Daegu's textile industry from hemp to 1970s synthetics. Closed Mondays; 10:00–18:00.
Korea's oldest surviving earthen rampart, raised in the Samhan period before the 5th century and later a Joseon military command post. The 1.3km walkable earth wall still rings the park; Japanese authorities turned it into Daegu's first public park in 1905.
In February 1907 Daegu publisher Seo Sang-don launched a campaign for Koreans to quit smoking and repay the nation's 13-million-won debt to Japan. The hall displays donation ledgers listing women who gave wedding rings. Open 09:00–18:00, closed Mondays.
On 28 February 1960 students from eight Daegu high schools walked out to protest a Sunday class ordered to block them attending an opposition rally. It was the first mass student protest of the Rhee era and the fuse for the April Revolution. Free entry.
Gyesan Cathedral (1902, Historic Site No. 290) is Korea's third-oldest Gothic church, built in red and grey brick by French priest Robert. Uphill stand three 1910 missionary residences in Oregon fir shipped from the US, now small museums of medicine and education.
A 1932 colonial bank in stone and concrete, built to finance Japanese land purchases across North Gyeongsang. Restored interiors keep the teller cages and vault; upper floors trace Daegu's 1920s–60s streetcars, cinemas and textile mills.
Two adjacent hanok on Jingolmok: the home where poet Yi Sang-hwa wrote 'Does Spring Come to Stolen Fields?' in 1926, and the house of Seo Sang-don who led the debt movement. Saved from demolition in 2005 by a public subscription campaign.
A 400-year-old clan settlement of 20 tile-roofed hanok founded by the Gyeongju Choi family in the 1616 reign of Gwanghaegun, still lived in by descendants. The Baekbuljangbaek pavilion and the ancestral shrine sit behind a 300m earth-and-stone lane.
UNESCO-listed since 2019, founded 1568 to honour scholar Kim Goeng-pil, executed in the 1504 literati purge. The Hwanjudae terrace wall of packed stone and mud is Treasure No. 350; a 400-year-old ginkgo shades the lecture hall above the Nakdong River.
Over 200 earthen burial mounds on rolling hills, built between the 2nd and 6th centuries by local chiefdoms before Silla absorbed the region. Excavations found iron armour and horse gear proving an independent power base. Historic Site No. 262.