Yeongamsa Temple Site, Hapcheon

This is a temple site on the southern slope of Hwangmaesan Mountain. The exact date of its founding is not known, but a record states that the monk Jeogyeon Seonsa died here at the age of 83 in the fifth year of King Hyeonjong of Goryeo (1014), suggesting the temple was built before that time. In addition, the name "Yeongamsa" appears in an inscription on the Stele for State Preceptor Honggak, now housed in the National Museum of Korea, which was erected in 886; this allows the age of Yeongamsa Temple to be estimated. Excavation has revealed the sites of the main hall, which once enshrined a Buddha statue, a west hall, corridors and other buildings, giving a sense of the temple's scale at the time; the main hall is known to have been rebuilt on three separate occasions. Remaining at the site are a twin-lion stone lantern (treasure) made in the Unified Silla period, a three-storey stone pagoda, a tortoise-shaped stele base, stone foundations of period buildings, and various roof-tile fragments. In particular, the standing gilt-bronze Buddha is dated to around the eighth century and is important for estimating the temple's founding date. The building sites of Yeongamsa Temple show several features that differ from those of ordinary temples: stairs on either side of the central projection of the upper terrace where the main hall stands; carved faces on the coping stones of the main hall site, with animal figures in relief on three sides excluding the rear; and stairs on either side of the platform of the building site to the south-west. Together with these features, the stone objects scattered about the site give an unusual impression. Given the distinctiveness of its layout and siting, and the large quantity of ash found within the confines of the south-western building site, the temple is thought to have been built using the methods of Esoteric Buddhism, which flourished at the end of the Silla period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Hapcheon, Gyeongnam

Designation

Historic Site · 사적