Geungnakjeon Hall of Bogwangsa Temple, Cheongsong

Bogwangsa Temple, Cheongsong, is said to have been founded in 668, the eighth year of King Munmu of Silla, by the great monk Uisang, though no firm evidence for this survives. According to the Yeojidoseo (an illustrated gazetteer), "Bogwangsa Temple lies five ri south of the government office and is a temple that guards the grave of Sim Hong-bu," indicating that it served as a family votive temple of the Cheongsong Sim clan. Nothing is known of the temple's history before this, but it can be confirmed that Bogwangsa was built in the fifteenth century to guard Sim Hong-bu's grave, and that Geungnakjeon Hall, Manseru Pavilion and Chumojae form a single compound. According to a ridge-beam inscription discovered during recent repairs, Geungnakjeon Hall is presumed to have been built in the 43rd year of the Wanli era (1615). Its stone platform makes use of the sloping ground, being built higher at the front and, following the slope, slightly lower on the left side than at the front. Structurally it has a gabled roof on a five-purlin, two-interior-column frame, built in the dapo bracket style (clusters of brackets set both on the columns and between them); the bracket sets carry two projecting tiers on both the interior and exterior, with the same number of tiers on each side. As a result, the space above the interior purlin-supporting member and the second interior tier's supporting member is filled in as a wall - a feature typical of mid-Joseon dapo construction, whereas in later periods the number of interior tiers increases and this wall area tends to shrink. In its bracket technique, the exterior differs between front and back: the bracket arms at the front are of the ox-tongue (soseo) form, while those at the rear are of the plain gyodu form without a carved ox-tongue, their upper edge cut to a pointed shape - a technique that predates the more ornate style of the late Joseon period. Inside, both front and rear are built in the same gyodu form seen before the mid-Joseon period. The roof is gabled, with double eaves at the front and single eaves at the rear. A distinctive feature is the hyeoneo, a hanging fish-shaped ornament, fitted to the gable ends at the sides; where mid-to-late Joseon buildings usually join the front and rear gable boards with an iron fitting or metal clamp, the use here of a wooden hyeoneo carved with a scrolling-vine design is a rare example. The tongpyeong-godae purlin and the supplementary rafters, which are wider than they are tall, are likewise characteristic of the mid-Joseon period. In its structural style and bracket composition as a gabled-roof Buddhist hall of the dapo type, the building shares features with the construction techniques used in other seventeenth-century Buddhist halls already designated and preserved as treasures - Daeungjeon Hall of Daebisa Temple (treasure, 17th century), Bogwangjeon Hall of Daejeonsa Temple (treasure, 1672), Daeungjeon Hall of Hwanseongsa Temple (treasure, 1635) and Geungnakjeon Hall of Daejeoksa Temple (treasure, 1635) - and is judged to merit designation as a treasure on this basis.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Cheongsong, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Treasure · 보물