Geumgangsa Temple Site, Buyeo

The Geumgangsa Temple Site, Buyeo is the site of a temple of long standing, founded in the Baekje period and continuing to burn its lamp of the Dharma through the Unified Silla and Goryeo periods. Two excavations, in 1964 and 1966, confirmed that the temple had been rebuilt twice after its founding, and roof tiles inscribed with the characters "Geumgangsa" (金剛寺) were found, revealing that this was the ruined site of a temple called Geumgangsa. The original temple compound, dating to the Baekje period, followed the one-pagoda-one-hall layout centred on a wooden pagoda; its distinctive feature is that it was oriented on an east–west axis rather than the usual north–south axis. From east to west it is known to have been arranged in the order of the middle gate, pagoda, main hall, and lecture hall, with a covered corridor running around the complex from the middle gate to the lecture hall. The stone platforms on which the buildings stood differ from building to building: that of the main hall is built with a base stone, face stones and a coping stone, with corner posts set at its four corners, whereas those of the lecture hall and monks' quarters were built by setting up slab stones without a base stone. The platform of the wooden pagoda site is presumed to have been a two-tiered platform, and the foundation stone found at a depth of six cheok below ground was unusual in that it made use of natural weathered bedrock. This is the first temple site at which it was confirmed that the earthen platforms of the pagoda, main hall and middle gate had been built using pandukbeop, a rammed-earth construction technique, making it a site of high historical and art-historical value.

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Where it is

Region

Buyeo, Chungnam

Designation

Historic Site · 사적