- Designation: Treasure No. 908
- Period: Middle Unified Silla Period
- Location: 856-7, Yongmyeong-ri, Geoncheon-eup, Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do
It is the Three-story Stone Pagoda in Yongmyeong-ri, Gyeongju. Three-story body stands on the double-tiered base. It’s 5.6 m height. The overall proportions and detailed sculptures are good. It shows a typical style of the 3-story stone pagoda in the Unified Silla period. So it is estimated that this pagoda was built in the middle of the 8th century.
The temple site is located in the valley of Kumi mountain east of Guncheon-eup where Influential groups of early Silla settled in the three-country period. It is hard to trace the original appearance and scale of the Buddhist temple that used to stand on this area in Yongmyeong-ri, since private houses are now spread around the temple’s site.
Three-story Stone Pagoda in Yongmyeong-ri, Gyeongju. It’s a typical stone pagoda of the Unified Silla period.
Double-tiered base. It has a sense of stability by making the lower-base wide and low. Pillars were engraved on the corner and the side of the base.
The body of the pagoda. The body stones and the roof stones were made of one stone each. The corners of roof stone are slightly raised and it gives a feeling of flying lightly.
View from the south.
View from the north.
There is nothing left but a three-story stone pagoda on the temple site. So it is difficult to guess the original appearance and scale of the temple.
The village of Yongmyo-ri is called ‘Tapgol-pagoda village’ or ‘Tapri’ because the three-story stone pagoda remains. There are many native dog of Silla in this villages.
The body of this pagoda rests on a double-tiered platform, each tier of which contains four column-shaped figures. The body and eaves of each tier are compose of one stone. The cog-shaped end of the eaves stone displays a pattern used during the heyday of the Silla period. A bronze Buddha image was found inside the pagoda when it was dismantled for repairs in 1943. (Cultural Heritage Administration, 2016)
References.
- Cultural Heritage Administration, 2017