Daeungjeon Hall of Beomeosa Temple, Busan

Beomeosa, renowned as one of the three great temples of Gyeongsangnam-do, is recorded in the Samguk yusa as having been first built by the Venerable Uisang in 678, the 18th year of King Munmu of Unified Silla. It is also known as one of the important temples whose monks took up arms and fought directly in battle when Japanese forces invaded in the past. During a detailed survey conducted by the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage in 1993, an ink inscription was found on the ridge purlin of the Daeungjeon Hall recording that a ridge-raising ceremony was held in 1658, the ninth year of King Hyojong. This shows that the hall, having burned down during the Japanese invasions of 1592, was temporarily restored in 1602 by the local magistrate and then rebuilt in 1658, the ninth year of King Hyojong. Inscriptions on the concave roof-end tiles, carved characters on the platform, and records on the timber members further confirm that the present Daeungjeon Hall was rebuilt in the 17th century. Unlike an ordinary Daeungjeon Hall, which enshrines only a statue of Sakyamuni Buddha, the Daeungjeon Hall of Beomeosa also enshrines the bodhisattvas Maitreya and Dipankara to the left and right of Sakyamuni respectively. The building measures three bays across the front and three bays deep, and its roof is a gabled roof which, seen from the side, forms the shape of the character 人 (person). It is built in the dapo style, in which decorative bracket clusters supporting the eaves are placed not only above the columns but also between them. Furthermore, the intricacy and delicacy of the carving seen in the buldan, the altar on which the images rest, and in the daetjip, a small canopy-like roof structure placed over the images, display the beauty of mid-Joseon Buddhist architecture and the excellence of Joseon-period woodcraft.

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Where it is

Region

Geumjeong-gu, Busan

Designation

Treasure · 보물