Three-story Stone Pagoda in Namsa-ri, Gyeongju

This pagoda stands on the site of an unnamed old temple, its three-story body raised on a two-tiered base. It was repaired in 1975, when only the central stone on the north side of the upper base was newly replaced; the rest survives largely in its original form. The lower base is assembled from four stones - a bottom stone, a middle stone and a top stone joined together - with pillar shapes carved at the corners and at the centre of each of the four sides of the middle stone. The upper base bears the same style of pillar-shaped carving, and pillar shapes are likewise carved at the four corners of the body stones of the pagoda itself. The roof stones curve up sharply at all four corners, giving the whole pagoda a light, buoyant appearance, and the underside of each roof stone has four tiers of eave supports. Only the square base stone that once supported the finial ornament survives at the top. Compared with the delicate, accomplished carving of the base, the decoration of the pagoda body appears somewhat formulaic. This suggests that the pagoda was made in the late ninth century, a period when simplification and omission were pronounced in stone pagoda style.

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Where it is

Region

Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Treasure · 보물