Sacred Bell of Great King Seongdeok

The largest bell left in Korea, and with the bell from Sangwonsa and the one excavated at Uncheon-dong in Cheongju one of only three complete Unified Silla bells to survive. It is 3.66 m high and 2.27 m across the mouth, between 11 and 25 cm thick; when the Gyeongju National Museum measured it precisely in 1997 it came to 18.9 tonnes. King Gyeongdeok of Silla meant to cast a bell to proclaim the merit of his father, King Seongdeok, and did not manage it; his successor King Hyegong completed it in 771 and it was named the Sacred Bell of King Seongdeok the Great. It is also called the Bongdeoksa bell, because it first hung there, and the Emille bell, from the tale that a child was given to the casting. At the top is a sound tube that helps the ring carry — a feature found on Korean bells and nowhere else — and the loop it hangs from is carved as a dragon's head. Broad bands run round the body top and bottom with flowers cut into them, and below the shoulder four square panels each enclose nine lotus buds in relief. Beneath those, two pairs of flying heavenly beings, and between them the lotus-shaped striking point. The history of the bell is inscribed at two places on the body. The mouth is scalloped into a flower shape, which is unusual and particular to this bell. It was cast when Unified Silla art was at its height in every field, and its ornament and carving are representative of the period. The thousand or so characters on the body are also a valuable epigraphic source, for the writing itself and for what they show of the religion and thought of the time.

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Where it is

Region

Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

National Treasure · 국보