Why BTS’s Album Includes the Sound of an Ancient Korean Bell — 성덕대왕신종 Explained
Why did BTS place the sound of a 1,255-year-old Korean bell in the middle of ARIRANG?
⏱ 9 min read · Updated August 1, 2026 · BTS and Korean heritage sound guide
The sixth track on BTS’s fifth album ARIRANG contains no conventional song performance. “No. 29” is built from the sound of 성덕대왕신종 (Seongdeok-daewang-sinjong), the Unified Silla bell officially known in English as the Sacred Bell of Great King Seongdeok.
This was not an unidentified bell sample. The National Museum of Korea supplied HYBE with a high-quality public recording of the bell, and that recording was used directly in “No. 29.” The number refers to the bell’s former public designation as National Treasure No. 29—a designation still familiar in cultural memory even though Korea removed serial numbers from official heritage names in 2021.
Once that history is understood, the interlude stops feeling like empty space between songs. It becomes a pause where a modern global album gives the listener time to hear Silla craftsmanship, Buddhist sound culture, Gyeongju, and more than twelve centuries of resonance.
• “No. 29” uses an official high-quality recording of the Sacred Bell of Great King Seongdeok.
• The bell was completed in 771 during Unified Silla and is displayed at Gyeongju National Museum.
• Its former designation, National Treasure No. 29, explains the track title; the current official heritage name no longer displays a serial number.
• The bell is known for a long aftersound and 맥놀이 (maengnori), a repeated rise and fall in sound intensity.
• Official collaboration materials connect the bell’s thousand-year endurance with BTS’s wish to make music that remains with listeners over time.
A focused guide to the bell used in “No. 29,” the meaning of its historic number, its Silla and Buddhist context, the physics of its lingering sound, and its position inside ARIRANG.
▲ A Silla bell resonance entering a modern K-pop album without losing its connection to place and history
🔔 The Confirmed BTS–Museum Connection
The National Museum of Korea confirmed the collaboration on March 23, 2026. After a memorandum of understanding between the museum, the National Museum Foundation of Korea, and HYBE, the museum supplied a high-resolution bell recording that was already available as public cultural content. HYBE used that recording in BTS’s “No. 29.”
The collaboration also extended beyond sound. Motifs from the bell—including the flying celestial figure and surrounding cloud patterns—were adapted for official BTS X MU:DS merchandise. The project therefore connected audio, visual heritage, and contemporary design rather than treating the bell as an anonymous sample.
The museum recording and bell motifs were officially supplied and used. Claims about exactly what every BTS member personally intended should not be invented. The cultural interpretation in this article is based on the album’s official framing and the collaboration staff’s published explanation.
In a Weverse Magazine interview, HYBE’s merchandise team explained that the bell’s ability to move people after more than a thousand years connected with BTS’s expressed hope to make music that remains with listeners for a long time, as “Arirang” has. That explanation gives the heritage choice a clear artistic logic without turning it into unsupported symbolism.
🏛️ What Is 성덕대왕신종?
성덕대왕신종 was completed in 771 during Unified Silla. King Gyeongdeok began the project in memory of his father, King Seongdeok, and King Hyegong completed it. The bell now stands in the outdoor exhibition area of Gyeongju National Museum.
Official museum information lists the bell at approximately 365.8 centimeters tall and 18.9 metric tons. Its importance comes from more than scale: the balanced form, dragon-shaped suspension loop, sound tube, floral bands, celestial figures, striking points, long inscription, and sustained tone make it one of the best-known works of Korean Buddhist metalcraft.
🇰🇷 Korean: 성덕대왕신종
🔊 Reading: Seongdeok-daewang-sinjong
💬 Official English name: Sacred Bell of Great King Seongdeok
🌿 Natural nuance: A formal heritage name tied to Silla kingship and Buddhist bell culture.
| Korean term | Reading | Meaning | Use in this article |
|---|---|---|---|
| 신종 | sinjong | sacred or divine bell | Part of the bell’s formal name. |
| 범종 | beomjong | Buddhist temple bell | The object type and ritual sound tradition. |
| 국보 | gukbo | National Treasure | The bell’s current official heritage category. |
| 울림 | ullim | resonance / reverberation | Physical sound and an emotional effect that remains. |
These are spoken Korean guides, not recordings of the historic bell itself.
🔊 Reading: Seongdeok-daewang-sinjong
💬 Meaning: Sacred Bell of Great King Seongdeok
🔊 Reading: ullim
💬 Meaning: resonance, reverberation, or emotional impact
The bell is widely nicknamed the Emille Bell, and a famous legend links that name to the cry of a sacrificed child. The story belongs to later folklore and should not be presented as established evidence about how the bell was cast.
2️⃣9️⃣ Why the Title Still Says “No. 29”
The bell was long identified publicly as National Treasure No. 29. That serial designation supplied the compact title of BTS’s interlude and remains widely recognizable in writing about the track.
Korea changed the official system in November 2021. Heritage serial numbers had originally indicated the order of designation, but people sometimes misread them as rankings of cultural value. The government therefore removed the numbers from official public names. The current heritage portal lists the object as National Treasure, Sacred Bell of Great King Seongdeok, without “No. 29.”
“No. 29” refers to the bell’s former or historic designation number. Calling it “National Treasure No. 29” remains understandable in historical and album context, but it is no longer the current official display name.
This makes the track title unexpectedly layered. It preserves an older cultural identifier while the sound itself carries the object beyond a catalog number. Listeners begin with “29” and end up discovering a bell, a city, a period of Korean history, and an acoustic tradition.
🌊 울림 and 맥놀이: How the Bell Sound Lingers
The first strike is only the beginning. Gyeongju National Museum describes the bell as having a beautiful sound with a long aftereffect, while the National Museum of Korea highlights 맥놀이 (maengnori): the repeated rise and fall of volume that lets the sound continue softly over time.
🇰🇷 Korean: 맥놀이
🔊 Reading: maengnori
💬 Meaning: acoustic beating; a repeated fluctuation in sound intensity
🌿 Natural nuance: The tone seems to pulse or breathe as closely spaced frequencies interact.
In September 2025, Gyeongju National Museum conducted a special acoustic survey of the bell—the first such striking investigation in 22 years—and invited 771 members of the public, a number chosen to match the year of the bell’s completion. The museum’s careful treatment of the event underscores that this is not an object rung casually for entertainment.
| Sound feature | What happens | Effect in “No. 29” |
|---|---|---|
| Initial strike | A powerful impact establishes the bell’s scale. | The listener’s attention shifts away from ordinary pop production. |
| Long aftersound | The tone remains after the visible action has ended. | Silence becomes part of the listening experience rather than an empty gap. |
| 맥놀이 | The volume subtly rises and falls in repeated waves. | The resonance feels active and changing rather than mechanically sustained. |
🇰🇷 Korean: 이 노래는 마음에 오래 울림을 남겨요.
🔊 Reading: i no-rae-neun ma-eum-e o-rae ullim-eul nam-gyeo-yo
💬 Meaning: This song leaves a lasting resonance in the heart.
🌿 Natural nuance: 울림 can describe both a physical reverberation and an emotional effect that stays with someone.
🎵 What “No. 29” Does Inside ARIRANG
“No. 29” is the album’s sixth track and its structural hinge. Weverse Magazine describes the songs before it as an outward-facing sequence in which BTS declares its identity as performers, calls to the audience, and builds a concert-like momentum. After the bell, “SWIM” opens a more inward-looking half of the album.
The interlude therefore does more than insert Korean heritage into the track list. It separates public energy from private reflection. The sound decays slowly, creating a threshold between the performance-facing first half and the more introspective material that follows.
Most pop transitions announce themselves through a beat switch, key change, or spoken interlude. “No. 29” changes the album’s direction by letting one historical sound fade. The track’s power comes from duration: the bell strikes in the present, while its resonance makes the past remain audible.
That approach also clarifies the relationship between ARIRANG and Korean heritage. The album does not need every track to sound traditional. One carefully placed bell recording can establish roots, memory, and continuity before the music moves forward again.
🧩 Quick Check
Try answering first, then open each card to check your understanding.
Q1. Was the bell in “No. 29” an anonymous sample found by fans?
01 Show answer
No. The National Museum of Korea officially supplied HYBE with a high-quality recording of the Sacred Bell of Great King Seongdeok, and it was used in the track.
Q2. Why is “National Treasure No. 29” described as a historic designation?
02 Show answer
Korea removed serial numbers from official public heritage names in 2021. The number still explains the track title, but the current official listing simply identifies the bell as a National Treasure.
Q3. What is 맥놀이, and why does it matter to the track?
03 Show answer
It is a repeated fluctuation in sound intensity. The effect helps the bell’s aftersound pulse and continue, making the fading resonance the central experience of “No. 29.”
“No. 29” turns the Sacred Bell of Great King Seongdeok from a museum object into the resonant threshold at the center of BTS’s ARIRANG.
🧭 Final Thoughts
The most important fact about “No. 29” is concrete: an official recording of a bell completed in 771 was placed inside a BTS album released in 2026. The cultural meaning grows from that real collaboration, not from a fan theory attached afterward.
Its position in the album gives the sound a second role. The bell closes one musical movement and opens another, allowing heritage to function as structure rather than ornament. For listeners outside Korea, the track offers a rare experience: discovering a major work of Korean history through the way it sounds after the strike.
Did “No. 29” feel like silence, a transition, or the emotional center of the album when you first heard it?
❓ FAQ
Q1. What bell is heard in BTS’s “No. 29”?
It is an official recording of 성덕대왕신종, the Sacred Bell of Great King Seongdeok, held by Gyeongju National Museum.
Q2. Is the bell still officially called National Treasure No. 29?
It remains a National Treasure, but Korea stopped displaying serial numbers in official heritage names in 2021. “No. 29” refers to the former designation that inspired the track title.
Q3. Where can visitors see or hear the bell?
The original bell is displayed outdoors at Gyeongju National Museum. The National Museum of Korea’s sensory gallery in Seoul and Gyeongju National Museum’s digital facilities have also offered experiences using its recorded sound; current programs should be checked before visiting.
Q4. Is the child-sacrifice story behind the Emille Bell true?
It should be treated as a famous legend rather than confirmed casting history. The official historical importance of the bell does not depend on that story.
👉 What Does “Arirang” Mean? Why BTS Named Their Comeback Album After Korea’s Most Sacred Song
👉 “SWIM” Korean Vocabulary Guide — 수영하다, 헤엄치다, and Keep Moving Forward
👉 The Real Story of Korea’s Han (한) — Meaning and Cultural Feeling
👉 The Korean Word Jeong (정) Has No English Translation
👉 Why There Are Two Ways to Count in Korean — Native and Sino-Korean Numbers
• National Museum of Korea — BTS Album Uses the Resonance of the Sacred Bell of Great King Seongdeok
• BIGHIT MUSIC — BTS ARIRANG Official Discography
• Weverse Magazine — BTS Makes an Experience of ARIRANG
• Weverse Magazine — For BTS, Time Flows On
• Gyeongju National Museum — 성덕대왕신종 Permanent Exhibition
• Korea Heritage Service — Sacred Bell of Great King Seongdeok
• Korean Law Information Center — 2021 Notice Removing Heritage Designation Numbers
※ Checked as of August 1, 2026. The official BTS discography, National Museum collaboration notice, Gyeongju exhibition record, current heritage listing, Weverse features, and 2021 designation-number policy were reviewed on this date; museum programs, source pages, and listening availability may change.
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