Gwacheon Gwanaksa Temple Site

The Gwanaksa Temple Site sits at the very top of the valley on the south-eastern side of Gwanaksan Mountain, with Yeonjudae above it and Yeonjuam Hermitage below. Gwanaksa Temple shows the typical layout of a mountainside monastery, with stone retaining walls built section by section on the steep terrain to create level platforms for its buildings. According to the Yeonjuam-ji (a record of Yeonjuam Hermitage), Gwanaksa Temple was founded in 677, the seventeenth year of King Munmu of Silla, by the monk Uisang. In 1411, the eleventh year of King Taejong of Joseon, Grand Prince Yangnyeong and Grand Prince Hyoryeong are said to have climbed Gwanaksan Mountain to console themselves after ceding the position of crown prince to Grand Prince Chungnyeong. Grand Prince Hyoryeong spent two years cultivating himself here, during which he moved Gwanaksa Temple to its present site and built a monastery of forty kan (bays). The temple site appears to have had six or more buildings, though these were not all erected at once; rather, successive structures seem to have been built up over time. Whenever a building complex was destroyed by landslides, it was either moved nearby or rebuilt on the same spot to keep the temple going, until it was finally abandoned, it seems, in the eighteenth century. The temple buildings were set on level ground created by building stone retaining walls into the steep slope, with successive terraces rising like a staircase along the incline. This faithfully follows the traditional method of laying out a mountainside monastery, making the fullest use of the terrain while seeking harmony between the built structures and the natural landscape.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gwacheon, Gyeonggi

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물