Five-story Stone Pagoda in Wanggung-ri, Iksan / 익산 왕궁리 오층석탑

Five-story Stone Pagoda in Wanggung-ri, Iksan / 益山王宮里五層石塔 

National Treasure 289  

Designated Date

1997.01.01 

 

Age

Goryeo or Baekje Period 

Owner

National Property 

Manager

Iksan City 

Located on a hill, about 2 km south of Wanggung-myeon, Iksan, which is known as the capital of Mahan. the pagoda consists of five stories, a single-tier foundation and some of the final. 

The foundation had been buried in the ground before it was dismantled and restored to the present shape in 1965.

At each corner of the foundation is installed an octagonal corner stone serving as a corner column, between which long, square stones are piled up in imitation of wooden pagodas.

The inside of the columns and stones is filled with earth, in which fragments of roof tiles from the Baekje period have been discovered.

During the repair work in 1965, a sarira container was retrieved inside the base and the roof of the first story.

The repair work also revealed a new fact that two central pillars are carved on each side of the foundation.

Each story has a column at all corners, and the first story has two central pillars engraved on all sides.

The thin, flat roofs are slightly upturned at the corners. 

The marks on the corners of the eaves suggest that wind-bells hung there. Each roof has a supporting stone on its top to hold the superstructure. 

Of the final, a stone base, an upside-down alms bowl, an upward-looking flower and a partly broken ring remain.

The roofs retain characteristics of Baekje pagodas to some extent, which led to a controversy over the exact date of the pagoda's construction.

Judging from the composition style of the foundation and the retrieved sarira container, this pagoda seems to have been the work of early Goryeo, which combines the styles of both Baekje and Silla pagodas.

The relics retrieved during the 1965 repair work are designated as National Treasure No. 123 and are on display at the National Museum of Korea.  (from CHA, some text edited)