Gyeongcheonsa Pagoda, Stone pagoda at National Museum of Korea, Seoul, South Korea.
Gyeongcheonsa Pagoda is a ten-storey pagoda carved from light grey marble, standing 13.5 metres tall on a three-tiered foundation that projects in four directions like a cross. The first three storeys repeat that cross shape, while the upper storeys are square, each with carved columns, bracket forms and a shallow hip-and-gabled roof with upturned eaves. The lowest storey is the tallest, and the top ends in a compact finial.
The pagoda was erected in 1348, in the fourth year of King Chungmok of Goryeo, as recorded in an inscription on its first story, at Gyeongcheonsa Temple at the foot of Mt. Buso in present-day Gaepung. In 1907 Mitsuaki Tanaka, Japan's minister of the Imperial Household, smuggled it to Japan; the journalists Ernest T. Bethell and Homer Hulbert campaigned against the removal, and it was returned in 1918 to Gyeongbokgung Palace. It was repaired in 1960, designated National Treasure No. 86 on December 20, 1962, and moved to the National Museum of Korea in 2005.
The carvings on the base include scenes from the Journey to the West, showing the Tang monk Xuanzang travelling west in search of Buddhist scriptures, a subject rarely found on pagodas. The second tier carries these scenes in sequence, and the third adds arhat figures. The reliefs mix Goryeo and Yuan carving styles, and Yuan craftsmen are thought to have taken part in the work.
The pagoda stands in the Path to History gallery inside the National Museum of Korea, where visitors can walk all the way around it to see every side. Since it is displayed indoors, there is no need to worry about weather or light conditions when planning your visit.
The base of the pagoda carries scenes from the journey of the Tang monk Xuanzang to the west in search of Buddhist scriptures, drawn from a tale performed as drama in Yuan China. Such depictions are rarely found elsewhere. The first storey also bears an inscription giving the date 1348.
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