Three-story Stone Pagoda at Seungansa Temple Site, Hamyang

This is a pagoda of the Goryeo period standing on the site of Seungansa Temple. It has a three-storey body raised on a two-tiered base, following the style of Unified Silla while showing distinctive Goryeo techniques in many details. On each face of the base, pillar shapes are carved at the corners and in the centre, and on the upper tier of the base, figures of buddhas, bodhisattvas and flying celestial beings (bicheon) are carved. In addition, the topmost stone of the upper base is carved all around with a lotus design, a decoration rarely seen elsewhere. The pagoda body has its body stone and roof stone at each storey each made from a single piece of stone. From the second storey up, the size of the body stones decreases noticeably, and on the first-storey body stone the Four Heavenly Kings, guardian deities of Buddhism, are carved on each face. The roof stones are wide in relation to the body stones, with four tiers of supports carved on their undersides. The roof slopes steeply, the eaves run horizontally, and the four corners barely curve upward, giving the pagoda a somewhat heavy, sturdy look. At the top of the pagoda, above the finial-base stone (露盤, noban), a covered-bowl-shaped ornament (覆鉢, bokbal) and an upward-facing lotus ornament (仰花, anghwa) remain. On the whole the pagoda faithfully follows the basic form of Unified Silla stone pagodas. The proportions between base and body are not perfectly balanced, so it cannot be called a finely finished work, but the distinctive style and ornamentation seen here and there, together with the evident effort devoted to decoration, reveal the characteristics of the early Goryeo period. This pagoda has been moved twice from its original location. When it was moved in 1962, a reliquary discovered in the first-storey body stone, containing Buddhist relics, suggests that the pagoda was first relocated in 1494, the 25th year of King Seongjong of Joseon.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Hamyang, Gyeongnam

Designation

Treasure · 보물