Daeungjeon Hall of Daegoksa Temple, Uiseong

Daegoksa Temple in Uiseong is said to have been built in 1368, the seventeenth year of King Gongmin of Goryeo, to commemorate the Buddhist teaching that the monk Jigong spread while travelling between the Yuan dynasty and Goryeo. In keeping with the purpose of its founding it was first named Daeguksa, but it burned down entirely during the Japanese invasions of 1592-98, and when the monk Tanu rebuilt it in 1605, the thirty-eighth year of King Seonjo, its name was changed to Daegoksa. As for the date of its founding, some hold the view that it dates from the late Silla to early Goryeo period, based on evidence such as a gilt-bronze Buddha image thought to date from the late Unified Silla period, excavated from the vegetable garden in front of the temple in 1960, a multi-storey stone pagoda from the early Goryeo period, and Yi Gyu-bo's poem "Verses on a Visit to Daegoksa"; however, because so much time has passed and no archaeological remains have been confirmed, the exact date cannot be known. The Daeungjeon Hall, the main Buddha hall of Daegoksa Temple in Uiseong, is a dapo-style building (a multi-cluster bracket style) three bays wide and two bays deep, rebuilt in 1687, the thirteenth year of King Sukjong, by the Seon master Taejeon. Inside, the Buddhist altar is set further back than the line of the rear row of columns; this placement of the altar became increasingly rare after the eighteenth century in dapo-style hip-and-gable Buddha halls of the same plan, so it reflects the architectural trend of the period when the hall was rebuilt, in the late seventeenth century. In addition, the western side bay of the rear wall has a yeongssangchang structure (a window with a central post that makes it look like two separate windows), and the side and rear walls have vertical wall boards set without a middle crossbeam; there are also large holes at the bases of the columns on the front and side faces that appear to have held a narrow attached floor. These features — a floor set at the front of the Buddha hall, the twin-post window, and the vertical wall boards — are archaic elements found mainly in buildings from before the eighteenth century. The bracket sets of the dapo style project three steps both inside and out; the column spacing is identical on the front, rear and both sides of the building, and two bracket clusters are placed between each pair of columns to bear the roof load stably, showing a careful and skilful technique in which the spatial and structural design of the building were planned together. Structural members such as the columns and beams are only minimally worked for fine decorative effect, and the framework is assembled simply and clearly. Features characteristic of the Daeungjeon Hall of Daegoksa Temple — the matching number of interior and exterior bracket projections, the window arrangement of the rear openings, the placement of the altar, and traces of an outer floor at the front of the building — all reflect the trends of the period in which it was rebuilt. As evidence of the stylistic changes taking place when Buddhist temples in the Uiseong region were beginning to be revived, the hall carries great value in architectural history.

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Where it is

Region

Uiseong, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Treasure · 보물