Flagpole Supports at Cheonheungsa Temple Site, Cheonan

These are the flagpole supports of Cheonheungsa Temple, which was founded in 921, the fourth year of King Taejo of Goryeo, and they now stand in the middle of the village of Cheonheung-ri in Cheonan. At temples, when a ceremony was held, a banner called a dang was hung at the temple entrance; the pole from which the banner was hung was called a danggan, and the two stone pillars supporting this pole from either side are called danggan-jiju, or flagpole supports. The two pillars, standing to the east and west, are spaced 60 cm apart and are set on a two-tier platform. The platform, which had been scattered, has been restored, and niches (ansang) are carved around it, showing the decorative aspect of the flagpole supports. The base that once directly supported the flagpole between the east and west pillars no longer survives. There is no carving on the inner faces, and only a single square hole for fixing the flagpole is found at the very top of the pillars. A single line is carved down the centre of the outer face of each pillar, from top to bottom. The style of each part of the pillars follows Unified Silla forms, but the technique is degraded, suggesting the work dates to the Goryeo period. In particular, an inscription on the Cheonheungsa bronze bell excavated at the temple site gives the date as 1010, the first year of King Hyeonjong of Goryeo, suggesting that these flagpole supports were also erected at the time the temple was founded.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Cheonan, Chungnam

Designation

Treasure · 보물