Three-story Stone Pagoda at Hwangboksa Temple Site, Gyeongju

King Hyoso raised this pagoda after the death of his father, King Sinmun, to pray for his repose. Three storeys stand on a two-tier base, on a smaller scale than the pagodas at the Gameunsa and Goseonsa sites. The base follows those two closely, except that the columns carved across each face have been reduced from three to two. The body is different too: instead of being assembled from several stones, each body stone and each roof stone is cut from one, which shows how the form was changing. The roof stones are flat on top with their four corners lifted, which makes them light, and there are five steps of support beneath. Only the base of the finial remains at the top. The pagoda was raised in 692. In 706, in the fifth year of King Seongdeok, who followed Hyoso, relics and images were added and placed inside it again, to pray for the repose of both kings before him and for the peace and prosperity of the kingdom. During the dismantling and repair begun in 1942, a gilt-bronze reliquary, two gilt-bronze images and many other objects were found inside the second-storey roof stone. Inside the lid of the reliquary was an account of why the pagoda was built and what had been placed in it, so that its date and its purpose are known exactly. It is typical of Unified Silla and at the same time records how the earlier pagoda form was changing, which makes it a valuable document in stone.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

National Treasure · 국보