Three-storey Stone Pagoda at Goseonsa Temple Site, Gyeongju, Buddhist stone pagoda in Gyeongju, South Korea.
The Three-storey Stone Pagoda at Goseonsa Temple Site stands on a two-tier base whose faces are carved with pillar shapes. Its three body tiers are assembled from multiple stones, but the third-storey body is a single block, made so to hold a relic chamber. Each roof stone has a gentle slope, upturned corners and five stepped supports beneath.
The pagoda stood at Goseonsa, a temple where the monk Wonhyo served as abbot, and is thought to have been built in the late 7th century, in the early Unified Silla period. When the Deokdong Dam was built and the temple site was submerged, the pagoda was dismantled and re-erected at the Gyeongju National Museum.
The pagoda stood at Goseonsa, a temple where the monk Wonhyo served as abbot, and was moved to the Gyeongju National Museum when the Deokdong Dam submerged the temple site. Its three storeys and two-tier base follow the standard Unified Silla stone pagoda form, the same lineage as the East and West Three-storey Pagodas at Gameunsa and the Bulguksa Three-storey Pagoda.
The pagoda now stands in the outdoor sculpture garden of the Gyeongju National Museum, not in an indoor gallery, so it is seen in daylight and open air. The museum closes on Mondays. The pagoda was dismantled and reassembled during the move, which is how the single-block third-storey body was found.
The third-storey body is carved from a single block of stone, a hollow space cut to hold relic offerings; this only came to light when the pagoda was dismantled and restored. The roof stone slopes gently and its four corners turn upward, and five stepped supports are cut beneath its underside.
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