Five-story Stone Pagoda in Wanggung-ri, Iksan

A stone pagoda on a hill about 2 km south of Wanggung-myeon in Iksan, known as a capital of the Mahan period. It has five storeys on a single-tier base; the base had been buried, and its original form was revealed when it was dismantled and repaired in 1965. At the four corners of the base, octagonal foundation stones serve as pillars, and between them long, large square stones are stacked in several interlocking courses, reproducing in stone the form of a timber pagoda. The spaces between the octagonal pillars and the square stones were filled with rammed earth, in which Baekje roof-tile fragments were found. The excavation revealed two carved pillars in the middle of each face of the base, and relic sets were found in the centre of the first-storey roof stone and in the foundation stone under the central pillar. Pillars are carved at the four corners of each body stone from the first to the fifth storey, and the first-storey body has two more at the middle of each face. The roof stones are thin with flat undersides, lift lightly at the four corners, and are pierced with holes where bells hung. Separate stones are set on each roof stone to carry the body above. The finial survives on the fifth roof stone. The thin, broad roof stones with flat slopes and the first-storey roof stone wider than the base keep something of the Baekje pagoda style. Its date was long debated, but the structure of the base and the style of the relic set found in the 1965 repairs made it fairly clear: it is thought to be an early Goryeo work in the Baekje pagoda style that persisted in former Baekje territory into Goryeo, mixed with some Silla features. The Goryeo objects found in it are designated together a national treasure and kept at the National Museum of Korea. Recently the Buyeo National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage found traces beneath it showing that a wooden pagoda stood here before the present one, drawing fresh attention.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Iksan, Jeonbuk

Designation

National Treasure · 국보