Ugok-ri Pyesa Temple Site, Hapcheon

Geographical setting: The site lies on a hill at an elevation of 240 m, on a ridge that runs northeast down from Soryongsan Mountain (519.7 m) east of Hapcheon Lake before stretching long and gently back south. The whole of the site, including the presumed site of the main hall (geumdang, the main worship hall of a Buddhist temple) centred on Lot 547 at its eastern end, is now used for graves, farmland and house sites. The eastern edge of the site is bounded by a narrow, deep tributary of Ugok Stream. Documentary evidence: There is an oral tradition that this was Garyesa, a temple in Gyeseong, Gaui-myeon, Hapcheon County, but no record survives that indicates the temple site's name or history. Archaeological evidence: The presumed site of the main hall is centred on Lot 547, where the base stones, facing stones, coping stones and column bases are well preserved; it measured three bays across the front and three bays in depth. Four further column-base stones were set in the centre of the building to form a one-bay altar platform. On the site of that altar platform now stand two commoners' graves, belonging to the Kim clans of Uiseong and Sangju, with a stone offering table; and at the eastern end stand two mangju-seok, ornamental stone pillars that flank a grave, arranged north-south. In the centre to the south of the main hall site, a stone staircase of four to five steps has collapsed; 8 m further on lies a single base stone, set crosswise, from the presumed site of a pagoda; and 13 m beyond that, a natural-stone base believed to be from a stone lantern has been identified. 8 m east of the main hall site stands a massive stone revetment, about 6 m high, built of sixteen or seventeen megaliths.

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Where it is

Region

Hapcheon, Gyeongnam

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물