Ten-story Stone Pagoda from Gyeongcheonsa Temple Site,

Gyeongcheonsa stood on Busosan at Gwangdeok-myeon, Gaepung, in Gyeonggi, and is thought to have been founded early in the Goryeo period. The pagoda on its site was taken to Japan without permission under Japanese colonial rule; it was returned, re-erected at Gyeongbokgung Palace in 1960, and is now displayed in the National Museum of Korea. The three-tier base is shaped like the character 亞 seen from above, and the tall body of ten storeys keeps that shape for its first three before becoming square from the fourth. Base and body are filled with rich carving — Buddhas, bodhisattvas, plant scrolls — cut with outstanding skill. From the fourth storey each body stone is ringed with a railing, and the roof stones show the tile channels of a hipped-and-gabled roof, so that the whole is carved in a way that recalls timber building. An inscription on the first body stone says it was raised in 1348, under King Chungmok, so its date is exact. Even in Goryeo, when many new forms of pagoda appeared, its form is exceptional, and it is also unusual for being marble rather than the granite usual in Korea. Its overall balance and detailed carving make it beautiful, and because the eaves of its roof stones reproduce timber structure exactly it is good evidence for the architecture of its time. The form later influenced the ten-storey pagoda at the Wongaksa Temple Site in Joseon. Damaged when it was taken to Japan, it was restored to its original form by the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and is now shown in the National Museum of Korea.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Designation

National Treasure · 국보