Twin Lion Stone Lantern at Yeongamsa Temple Site, Hapcheon

This stone lantern of the Unified Silla period stands at the Yeongamsa temple site. Around 1933, when Japanese individuals attempted to remove it illegally, villagers stopped them and it was kept at the township office; in 1959, when a hermitage was built at the temple site, it was returned to its original location. A stone lantern is generally centred on a fire-chamber stone that holds the light, supported below by a three-tiered base and topped above by a roof stone. In this lantern, every part except the middle base stone, where the lions stand, follows the octagonal form typical of the Unified Silla period. The lower base stone is carved with a lotus design, and above it stand two lions, chest to chest. Their hind legs rest on the lower base stone, while their raised forelegs support the upper base stone; their heads face upward, and the mane, tail and musculature are rendered realistically. The fire-chamber stone has windows on four faces and images of the Four Heavenly Kings, the guardian deities of the Buddhist Dharma, carved on the other four — figures that appear often in works of this period reflecting the contemporary ideology of protecting the state through Buddhism. The roof stone is octagonal, thin and flat, with a small flower ornament rising at each of its eight corners. Judging from the style and carving of each part, the lantern shows somewhat more formalised features than works of the Unified Silla's peak period, suggesting it was made in the 9th century, in the late Unified Silla period. It can be considered a masterpiece comparable to the twin-lion stone lantern at Beopjusa Temple in Boeun.

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Where it is

Region

Hapcheon, Gyeongnam

Designation

Treasure · 보물