Seven-story Stone Brick Pagoda in Jangnak-dong, Jecheon

A mojeon stone pagoda is a pagoda built by cutting stone into brick shapes and stacking them, so called because it imitates a brick pagoda (jeontap) made of stacked clay bricks. The temple site where the pagoda once stood has since become farmland, so the scale of the original temple is unknown, but this massive seven-story pagoda still stands as though overwhelming its surroundings. The pagoda is built of greyish-black clay slate, but the foundation (gidan) supporting it alone is made of a single course of natural stone rather than slate, above which rises the seven-story pagoda body. The pagoda body is where the Buddha's sarira (relics) or sutras were enshrined; uniquely, at the four corners of the first storey, dressed granite pillars were used in place of slate. Niches (gamsil) for holding sarira, fitted with doors, were also set into the south and north faces, though the one on the south side is now missing. The south and east faces of the first storey are severely damaged, and this damage extends up to the roof stone of the second storey. The roof stones covering each body stone, being made in brick form, show stepped tiers on both the upper and lower slopes, with short, level eaves. Holes were drilled through the four corners of the roof stones, top and bottom, so that wind chimes could be hung. At the top of the pagoda, the finial ornament is missing and only the exposed disc-shaped base (noban) remains; at its centre is a round hole surrounded by a carved lotus design. In 1967, just before the pagoda was about to collapse, it was dismantled and repaired, and a bronze fragment carved with a floral design was found on top of the seventh-storey roof stone, which may possibly be part of the pagoda's finial ornament. Traces of plaster once applied to the surface remain in places over the entire pagoda body, which is worth noting. Judging from its form and the technique of dressing and stacking the stone, the pagoda is believed to have been built in the latter part of the Unified Silla period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jecheon, Chungbuk

Designation

Treasure · 보물