Three-story Stone Pagoda at Cheongsongsa Temple Site, Ulju

This is a three-storey stone pagoda at the site of Cheongsongsa Temple, below Namamsan Mountain. The pagoda has a three-storey body set on a two-tiered foundation. The foundation has pillars carved at each corner and in the centre, and a separate stone with two tiers of squared cushion blocks is inserted above the capstones to support the storey above. Each storey's body and roof stone are each carved from a single stone. The first-storey body is especially long and large, while the second-storey body diminishes sharply; pillar shapes are carved at the corners of each body stone. The underside of each roof stone has five tiers of eaves-supports; the eaves are thick, so the upward curve at each of the four corners is weak, and the eaves themselves are short and run horizontally. Only the roof-plate that once supported the finial remains at the top. The foundation of this pagoda is not neatly composed, and the first-storey body is disproportionately large compared with the small roof stone, so the proportions are not especially fine; nevertheless, it is a notable example of the Silla stone pagodas found in the provinces. The fact that the cushion stone beneath the first-storey body is a separate piece, together with the pagoda's unusual form, suggests it was built after the ninth century. When the pagoda was dismantled and repaired in 1962, a bronze reliquary was found in the upper foundation. Inside it were roughly thirty items, including a standing bronze Buddha, sixteen glass beads, one comma-shaped crystal bead, and one tube-shaped bead.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Ulju, Ulsan

Designation

Treasure · 보물