Three-story Stone Pagoda at Yongamsa Temple Site in Wolchulsan Mountain, Yeongam

Yongamsa Temple stood at the foot of Gujeongbong Peak on Wolchulsan Mountain, known as the "little Geumgangsan of the south" for its many strangely shaped rocks. On a site of nearly 300 pyeong (roughly 992 square metres), countless fragments of roof tiles and stone plinths remain, showing that a building once stood here. In 1955 a roof tile inscribed with the name "Yongamsa" was excavated, confirming that this was the Yongamsa recorded in the Dongguk yeoji seungnam, though no detailed records of the temple survive. This pagoda, southeast of the main building site, stands on a rock known as "Tapbong" (Pagoda Peak). It rests on a two-tier foundation bearing the whole weight of the structure, above which a three-story body was built. The foundation, which marks out a defined area, has pilasters carved to imitate columns at the corner and centre of each side. On top of the foundation, two tall tiers of separate corner-stones were fitted as supports; one of these had been lost and was newly replaced during restoration work in 1966. The first-story body stone is made of two pieces, while the second- and third-story body stones are each a single piece, with pilasters carved at every corner. The roof stones of the first and second stories consist of two pieces each and that of the third story of a single piece; the eave supports beneath each roof stone likewise decrease by one tier per story, with five tiers on the first, four on the second, and three on the third. The corners of the upper surfaces are rendered unusually thick for a stone pagoda, and only the square base stone that once supported the finial remains at the top. When the collapsed pagoda was re-erected in 1966, a white porcelain reliquary jar, a gilt-bronze seated bodhisattva, a celadon bowl, thirty-two sarira (relic beads), and eleven iron fragments were found within the lower foundation.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yeongam, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Treasure · 보물