Gyeongju Namsan Mountain Bipagok Valley Je2sa Temple Site Three-story Stone Pagoda

About 600 metres from Yongjang-ri on western Namsan Mountain (the entrance to Yongjangsa Temple Site), heading toward Samneung Royal Tombs, lies the village of Ap-bipa (Front Bipa Village). About 800 metres beyond this village, toward the summit of Namsan Mountain, at the point where the ridge of Samgaksan Mountain descends to meet the valley, lies Bipagok Valley Site No. 2. At the summit north of this temple site stands a three-storey stone pagoda that uses the natural bedrock as its foundation. The pagoda's most distinctive feature is its siting. Although it stands on a small peak, its position at the summit allows it to harmonise with the surrounding landscape while also rising prominently enough to be easily recognised from afar, evoking a sense of religious awe — a feature it shares with the Five-storey Stone Pagoda at Neumbibong Peak and the Three-storey Stone Pagoda at Yongjangsa Temple Site. However, the body stones of its second and third storeys have been lost and were restored with new material. Even so, its value is recognised for the ingenuity of forming the base as a roughly hewn, block-like square mass out of the natural bedrock, and for the way it makes skilful use of the terrain so that a small pagoda barely over 2 m tall appears not diminutive but rather large, creating an overall impression of elegant simplicity.

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Where it is

Region

Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산