Geungnakjeon Hall of Donghwasa Temple, Daegu

Geungnakjeon Hall of Donghwasa Temple, Daegu, was built in 1600, the thirty-third year of King Seonjo, within the precinct of Geumdangam Hermitage, and was called the geumdang, or 'Golden Hall' — the main worship hall of a temple. The fact that the earlier Sumajejeon Hall was recorded as the 'Old Geumdang' shows that, unlike today, when the Daeungjeon Hall precinct forms the centre of the temple, the centre of Donghwasa Temple after its founding lay in the Geumdangam Hermitage area; naming Geungnakjeon Hall the Geumdang and Sumajejeon Hall the Old Geumdang indicates that the earlier Geumdang had been Sumajejeon Hall, and the newly built Geumdang was Geungnakjeon Hall. The hall stands on the very spot where the temple complex was first founded in the Unified Silla period, and it retains the gidan (platform) and cornerstones from that time, which still preserve the style of the period, while its upper timber structure, dating from the early seventeenth century, survives to the present. Because the platform and cornerstones from the time of founding were reused as they were, the floor plan has columns spaced at equal intervals, without any gamju or iju (the narrowing or shifting of corner columns commonly used to adjust for visual effect), and the basic framework of the upper timber structure also retains ancient building techniques. In addition, many features of early construction survive, such as square floor tiles (bangjeon) laid beneath the present wooden floor. Documentary records confirm that the surviving upper timber structure was built in 1622. Among the surviving late Joseon Buddhist halls rebuilt after the Japanese invasions of 1592–1598, it is one of the earlier examples. Although alterations dating from the Japanese colonial period onward can be seen in the eaves, latticed doors and dancheong (traditional decorative colour painting), the overall structure and design have been well preserved from the time of construction, and the proportions both between the building's individual members and across the building as a whole retain their original beauty. The design and structure of the hall's gongpo (bracket sets) are also noteworthy. In constructing the seventeenth-century dapo (multi-cluster bracket) system on top of the ancient column spacing, the carpenters achieved visual unity across the bracket sets through minute adjustments to the length of the cheomcha (bracket arms), revealing the outstanding skill of the craftsmen who built the hall. Furthermore, the treatment of both the inner and outer ends of the bracket arms in an ox-head (gyodu) shape, and the use of paired supplementary bracket arms (byeongcheom) at the corner-bay brackets where the hip rafters and fan rafters converge, is a technique concentrated in the Yeongnam region around Palgongsan Mountain during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This clearly reflects the characteristics of a particular regional group of craftsmen, giving the hall great academic value as well.

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Where it is

Region

Dong-gu, Daegu

Designation

Treasure · 보물