Construction of the Queen Heo Memorial Park in Gimhae which will contain the love story of an Indian princess from 2,000 years ago and King Suro, the founder of Geumgwan Gaya, will begin construction this year, seven years after the project.

It is expected to become an international tourism product that symbolizes cultural exchange between India and Korea.

The city of Gimhae announced that it plans to start construction on a 23,000㎡ site in Bulam-dong in August.

The park, which is scheduled to be completed in 2024, will cost 20.1 billion won in total.

The city secures 4 billion won for municipal expenses through the supplementary budget and implements the construction this year with a total of 5 billion won including government and provincial expenses.

The Indian-style garden to be built here has a fountain in the center and a symmetrical structure in the style of the Mughal Empire. There will also be a story mural depicting the process of Queen Heo getting married to Gimhae by boat 2,000 years ago.

Rare Indian artifacts currently in the Indian Pavilion of Gaya Theme Park will be transferred to the Cultural Center.

In February 2019, he received a gift from the Indian government and plans to transfer one sapling of the Bodhi tree, which is currently growing at the National Arboretum (Gwangneung Arboretum) in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province. At the time, Prime Minister Modi of India gifted a seedling of national treasure level to Gimhae City.

Queen Heo Memorial Park is a facility that tells the love story of Indian princess Heo Hwang-ok, who crossed a 9,000 km waterway in search of love 2,000 years ago and married King Suro of Geumgwan Gaya.

When the memorial park is completed, the city plans to make it the core of the road to Queen Heo’s new journey (the way he came to his wife’s house) project and make it a landmark of Gimhae, the city of Gaya. An India-Gaya ship parade is also in the works, which will sublimate a 2,000-year-old new journey event into a festival along the Seonakdong River.

Previously, the basic plan was established for this project in 2017, but it was delayed due to the difficulty of securing the budget and the nature of the site as a green belt due to long discussions with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

In Ayodhya, India, known as Queen Heo’s hometown, in 2021, Queen Heo Park was built through consultations between the Korean government and the Indian government.