Five-story Stone Pagoda at Seonggeosa Temple Site, Gwangju (Presumed)

This is an early Goryeo stone pagoda standing within Gwangju Park, an area traditionally said to be the site of Seonggeosa Temple. Gwangju Park was originally called Seonggeosan Mountain; because the shape of the mountain resembled a tortoise, it is said that Seonggeosa Temple was built on its back and a five-story stone pagoda was erected near the tortoise's neck, so as to prevent the mountain from leaving Gwangju. The pagoda has a five-story body set on a single-tier platform, showing the stylistic change from the Unified Silla two-tier platform to the Goryeo single-tier platform. The eaves of the roof stones and the body stones are in fitting proportion to one another, and since the rate at which the stories diminish in size going upward is not great, the pagoda appears tall overall while retaining a sense of stability. Its most distinctive feature appears in the first-story body stone, which is divided into upper and lower tiers made up of five separate stones fitted together — a style not seen before this period and one commonly found in Goryeo pagodas. The underside of the roof stones has four tiers of eaves-supports, and each corner curves up slightly at both the top and bottom edges. When the pagoda was dismantled and repaired in 1961, a relic cavity (sarigong) and a set of reliquary furnishings were found in the second-story body stone, providing important evidence for dating the pagoda. The first- and third-story body stones were supplied as replacements at the time of repair.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Nam-gu, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Treasure · 보물