Yongin Gongse-ri Five-story Stone Pagoda

Standing about 2.5 m high, the pagoda appears today to rest on a single-tier platform, since only the upper part of the pedestal stone (daeseok) corresponding to the capstone of the lower platform is exposed above ground. However, the Ginae Sawonji (a gazetteer of temple sites in the capital region) records that the base stone and lower platform are buried, suggesting the pagoda may in fact have had a two-tier platform. The sides of the lower platform are each carved with four an-sang (cusped, niche-shaped decorative panels), with a bracken-fern pattern at the centre of each. The pedestal stone, which resembles a base stone, is decorated with a sixteen-petal, downturned lotus design. The corner faces are formed from four slabs carved with corner pillars (uju), two of which are damaged. The pagoda body has five storeys. The first-storey body stone and its roof stone (okgaeseok, the stone that covers a pagoda or lantern like a roof) are carved from a single block, but from the second storey upward the body stone and roof stone form a single piece. The proportions diminish sharply from the second storey, but from the third storey upward the rate of diminishing stays similar to that of the second. Corner pillars are carved in relief on the body stones, and each roof stone has three tiers of eave supports. The roof slopes gently but curves up lightly where the hip-ridge lines meet at the corners of the eaves. A single low tier marking the next body stone is carved in relief on top of each roof stone. The finial is now lost, but a hole 37 cm in diameter for the finial pole remains on top of the fifth-storey roof stone. Although relatively small, the Yongin Gongse-ri Five-story Stone Pagoda is presumed, on the basis of the an-sang and lotus carvings on its platform and its light, graceful form, to have been built in the mid-Goryeo period.

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Where it is

Region

Yongin, Gyeonggi

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료