Sinan Heuksanjillimusimsa Temple Site Three-story Stone Pagoda Gwa Stone Lantern

This stone pagoda and stone lantern stand beneath the village guardian tree of Eupdong Village, with fields spreading out around them and Sangnasan Mountain forming a screen-like backdrop behind. No trace of a temple site can be found, but pottery and roof-tile fragments discovered nearby show that Buddhist devotees still come here today to pray. Of the pagoda's base, only the topmost stone shows above ground, the rest being buried, and above it rises a three-storey body. The three body stones of the storeys do not fit precisely together at top and bottom, suggesting they may not originally have belonged to one another, and pillar-shaped carvings appear at each of the four corners. The roof stones each carry three tiers of eave supports on their undersides, and the eaves curve up slightly at the four corners. At the top, only the base stone that once supported the finial remains. The stone lantern beside the pagoda rests on a three-tiered pedestal topped by a roof stone and finial, but the firebox stone (hwasaseok), which once held the lamp's flame, is missing. The pedestal, octagonal throughout, is carved with lotus patterns symmetrical top and bottom, linked by a slender post joining the upper and lower pedestal stones. The roof stone is likewise meant to be octagonal, but its angles are so indistinct that the eight corners of its upper face are barely visible. At the top sits a round, bud-shaped stone forming the finial. Although the pagoda has largely lost its original form and the lantern's firebox stone is gone, together they show that Buddhism had spread even to this isolated island far from the mainland, offering valuable evidence of the religious life of island communities in the Goryeo period. The lantern in particular, though only partly preserved, retains each of its parts intact enough to reveal the style then in fashion, giving it considerable value as a record.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Sinan, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료