Seven-story Stone Pagoda from Namgyewon Temple Site, Gaeseong

A pagoda that stood at the Namgyewon Temple Site near Gaeseong, Gyeonggi. The site was long thought to be that of Gaeguksa, and the pagoda was called the Gaeguksa pagoda; when the site was later identified as Namgyewon, its name was changed accordingly. In 1915 only the body of the pagoda, without its base, was moved to Gyeongbokgung Palace. A later survey of the original site recovered the two-tier base, which was moved as well and set beside it, and the pagoda was then restored and re-erected at the National Museum of Korea. It has seven storeys on a two-tier base. At a glance it seems to follow the classic Silla pagoda, but its details show changes of style. The lower tier of the base is much taller than on the ordinary Silla pagoda, and the upper tier correspondingly a little lower. In the body, each body stone and each roof stone is a single block, and pillars are carved at the corners of the body stones. The thick eaves of the roof stones run in a flat curve and then lift sharply at the four corners, a mark of Goryeo pagodas, and the undersides have three shallow steps. Of the finial, only the base plate and the inverted bowl survive, carved from a single stone. It is thought to have been raised before the middle Goryeo period. The robust spirit that runs through it and its disciplined workmanship show well the character of Goryeo pagodas, which owed much to Silla. When it was moved in 1915, seven scrolls of the Lotus Sutra in silver on indigo paper were found in its body. They were placed in the pagoda in 1283, the ninth year of King Chungnyeol of Goryeo, which shows that it was repaired at that time.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Designation

National Treasure · 국보