Bunhwangsa, Buddhist temple in Wolseong-dong, South Korea
Bunhwangsa is a Buddhist temple in Wolseong-dong, Gyeongju, South Korea, best known for its stone pagoda built from cut blocks of dark andesite arranged in ascending tiers. Three levels of the pagoda still stand today, though scholars believe it originally had more stories.
The temple was founded in 634 during the Silla Kingdom and ranked among the principal Buddhist sites of that era. Over the centuries it suffered damage and partial restoration, yet it remained an active religious site.
Stone lion figures sit at the corners of the pagoda base and are still visible today, placed there as guardians in Korean Buddhist tradition. Visitors can walk around the base and observe these figures up close.
The temple is centrally located in Gyeongju and easy to reach on foot from the historic city center. Visiting early in the morning gives more space to explore the grounds and the pagoda at a relaxed pace.
During excavations in 1915, a hidden relic chamber was found inside the pagoda containing the cremated remains of a monk. This showed that the structure served as a burial place for important religious figures, not only as a place of prayer.
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