East and West Three-story Stone Pagodas of Seonamsa Temple, Suncheon

It is said that Seonamsa Temple was founded by the Silla monk Ado, who named it Biroam Hermitage, but the more credible account holds that it was founded by Doseon during the reign of King Heongang, who named it Seonamsa. To the west of the temple stands a large flat-faced rock over ten jang (roughly 30 m) high; people say it is the place where ancient immortals once played baduk, and that this is how the temple came to be called "Seonam", meaning Immortal's Rock. Passing through Seungseongyo Bridge within the temple grounds and entering the courtyard, one finds two three-story stone pagodas standing to the left and right in front of Daeungjeon Hall. Each takes the form of a three-story body raised on a two-tiered platform. Their scale and technique are identical, showing that they were built at the same time by the same hand. Each side of the platform is carved with pillar shapes at the corners and centre, and the top of each platform tier has a moulded support stone with three curved steps to bear the stone above. Each story of the body consists of a single body stone and a single roof stone, with pillar shapes carved at the corners of the body stone. The underside of the eaves of the roof stones is horizontal, and the support beneath each story has four tiers. At the top of each roof stone is a two-tiered curved support, a technique rarely seen applied to roof stones. Of the finial, only the noban, a base plate for the finial, survives, with small stone pieces placed on top of it. The two pagodas were built using exactly the same technique, and although each has suffered some damage, a sense of disciplined regularity is still felt. The proportion between upper and lower parts is sound and elegant, well inheriting the typical style of Silla-period stone pagodas. However, since the number of carved central pillars on the platform has been reduced to one, and the number of support tiers beneath the roof stones has decreased to four per story, the pagodas are believed to have been built around the 9th century, after the middle Silla period.

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Information

+82-61-754-5247

Visitor information: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1

Where it is

Region

Suncheon, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Treasure · 보물