Five-story Stone Pagoda at Cheonheungsa Temple Site, Cheonan

This is a Goryeo-period pagoda standing on the site of Cheonheungsa Temple. It has a massive form, with a five-story body erected on a two-tier platform, and it illustrates well the trend of stone pagodas growing large again just after the founding of the Goryeo dynasty. The platform supporting the pagoda body has a lower tier so shallow that it appears almost like a single tier. On each of the four sides of the lower platform, seven ansang (arch-shaped niche carvings) are densely carved, while on the four sides of the upper platform pillar shapes are carved at each corner. In the pagoda body, the body stone and roof stone of each story are each carved from a single block. The body stones have pillar shapes clearly carved only at the four corners, and the rate at which they narrow going upward is relatively gentle. The roof stones are thin and narrow, with the underside carved in three very shallow tiers. The slope is steep before quickly levelling off, giving a strong sense of reversal, and the upturn at the four corners is light, as if about to take flight. Overall the pagoda is grand and beautiful, and even the arrangement of the stones shows a sense of order. In particular, the gentle rate of diminution seen in the body of the pagoda adds a feeling of warmth and solemnity. Besides the pagoda, the flagpole supports of Cheonheungsa Temple Site, Cheonan, also remain on the site, while the bronze bell has been moved to the National Museum of Korea. According to surviving records, the bell is thought to have been made in 1010, the first year of King Hyeonjong of Goryeo, and this pagoda is presumed to date from the same period.

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Where it is

Region

Cheonan, Chungnam

Designation

Treasure · 보물