Uijeongbu Hoeryongsa Temple Five-story Stone Pagoda

Standing 3.3 m tall, the pagoda's finial and part of its roof stones (the stones that cap a stone pagoda or lantern like a roof) were destroyed by bombing during the Korean War in 1950, and it was restored in 1979 on the basis of its original form. The base is carved from a single stone and divided into three tiers: the sides of the lower base tier bear four rectangular panels with recessed niche designs carved inside them, and the upper surface bears twenty-four inverted lotus petals in total, five on each face and one at each corner. The middle stone of the base is the same height as the upper and lower base stones and is divided into three faces by rounded corner pillars and two intermediate pillars. The upper base stone is likewise treated in two tiers like the lower one, but in reverse: niche designs are carved within three rectangular panels on the upper part, and twenty-four upright lotus petals are carved below. This type of base, also seen in the Cheongwonsa Temple Seven-story Stone Pagoda, was a style popular in the early Joseon period and is presumed to have been influenced by the sumidan, a Buddhist altar shaped after Mount Sumeru. The corners of the pagoda's body are treated as rounded corner pillars, faithfully imitating the columns of wooden architecture. The first-storey body is divided on each face by two intermediate pillars, and the eave-support tiers of the first-storey roof stone are in two steps, even reproducing the pillar capitals of wooden architecture. The body stone of the second storey was damaged and has been newly made and inserted. Similarities are found, in the niche designs and lotus-petal decoration of the base and in the composition of the roof stones and body, with the Sujongsa Temple Octagonal Five-story Stone Pagoda made in 1493 and the Myojeoksa Temple Octagonal Multi-story Stone Pagoda, presumed to date from the late 15th century. This suggests that this stone pagoda too was made in the late 15th century, and it can be regarded as valuable material for research on Joseon-period stone pagodas.

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Where it is

Region

Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산