Five-story Stone Pagoda at Seongpungsa Temple Site, Yeongam

This pagoda stands at the site of Seongpungsa Temple. It has a two-tiered platform supporting the entire weight of the structure, on which a five-story pagoda body is built up. Pillar shapes are carved in relief at the four corners and centre of each face of every tier of the platform. Each story's body stone and roof stone were carved from a single block, and pillar shapes resembling structural columns are carved at each corner of the body stones. The roof stones are thin, with supports on their undersides consisting of four tiers up to the third story but reduced to three tiers on the fourth and fifth stories, so that they are not uniform. The four corners of the eaves rise sharply, appearing pointed when viewed from below. Of the finial ornaments at the top, only the noban (base plate) and bokbal (inverted-bowl decoration) survive. Relics found inside the pagoda reveal that it was erected in 1009, the twelfth year of King Mokjong of Goryeo. It had formerly stood collapsed at the site, but in 1986 the roof stone of the third story and the body stone and roof stone of the fifth story were newly made and the pagoda was restored. It is rare for the exact construction date of a stone pagoda to be known with certainty, and this example, whose date is confirmed by historical record and which has been restored to an almost complete state, is a valuable work.

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Where it is

Region

Yeongam, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Treasure · 보물