| Mireuksa | ||||||||
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 A reconstruction of the eastern stone pagoda, known as Dongtap. It is 30 meters in height. |
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Mireuksa was the largest Buddhist temple in the ancient Korean kingdom of Baekje. Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. More specifically it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated The Revised Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language Romanization system in South Korea. McCune-Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language Romanization systems along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which Buddhist Temples monasteries, Stupas and Pagodas sorted by location Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries a civilization and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. Baekje (18 BCE – 660 CE or Paekche, was a kingdom located in southwest Korea The temple established in 602, by the King Mu. King Mu of Baekje (600 - 641 ? - 641 was the 30th king of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. It is site was excavated in 1980 in Iksan City in South Korea. Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː The excavation disclosed many hitherto unknown facts about Baekje architecture. The stone pagoda at Mireuksa is one of two extant Baekje pagodas. It is also the largest as well as being among the oldest of all Korean pagodas. A pagoda is the general term in the English language for a tiered Tower with multiple Eaves common in China, Japan, Korea
The legend of the creation of Miruke-sa is told in the Samguk Yusa. Samguk Yusa, or Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms, is a collection of legends folktales and historical accounts relating to the Three Kingdoms of Korea ( Goguryeo King Mu and his queen were said to have seen a vision of the Maitreya Buddha at a pond on Mount Yonghwasan. The King promptly had the pond drained to establish the Mireuksa temple complex. The nine-storey wooden pagoda that once stood in the center of the complex is said to have been the work of Baekje master craftsman Abiji.
Designated South Korean Historic Site No. 150, Mireuksa has been partially restored and now includes a museum.
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Layout
The complex included a central wooden pagoda flanked by two stone pagodas. A causeway seems to have led to the outer entrance of the walled complex. Miruksa temple had a unique arrangement of three pagodas erected in a straight line going from east to west, each with a hall to its north. Each pagoda and hall appear to have been surrounded by covered corridors, giving the appearance of three separate temples of a style known as "one Hall-one Pagoda. "
The pagoda at the center was found to have been made of wood, while the other two were made of stone. The sites of a large main hall and a middle gate were unearthed to the north and south of the wooden pagoda.
National Treasure No. 11
The stone pagoda at Mireuksa (Mireuksa jiseoktap) was designated as a national treasure of Korea on December 20, 1962 and is the oldest and largest stone pagoda that has survived till modern times. Events 69 - Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor. Year 1962 ( MCMLXII) was a Common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. This pagoda was the western pagoda. It is believed to have been built during the reign of King Mu who ruled from 600 to 640 CE. King Mu of Baekje (600 - 641 ? - 641 was the 30th king of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Events By Place World The population of the Earth rises to about 208 million people Events By Place Europe Tulga succeeds his father Suinthila as king of the Visigoths. The pagoda is architecturally significant because it shows how the Baekje adopted their knowledge of wood working to stone. An examble of wood pagoda building techniques being adapted to stone is the fact that the base of the pagoda is low and only one story, like a wood pagoda. From this stone pagoda, scholars can glean wood working techniques which is especially useful because many Korean wood pagodas have not survived the ravages of time and war. Currently, the pagoda has six floors. However, scholars are uncertain of how many stories the pagoda would have actually reached. Each side of the first story is divided into three sections, and the middle section contains a door which lead into the pagoda. Walking into the center of pagoda, one can observe a massive pillar. There are also corner pillars and stone supports which mimicked wood supports of a wood pagoda. The corners of the roof of the pagoda were slightly raised up and each progressive storey was smaller than the one that preceded it.
Treasure No. 236
Also surviving at Mireuksa are flagpole supports of the temple site (Mireuksa Jidang Ganjiju). These two massive stones are set 90 centimeters apart. During special celebrations, a flagpole would sit and be supported by the two stone pillars. There were three holes for flags per pillar. The first pair of holes were square while the other two pairs were round. The base of the flagpoles has not survived. The undecorated nature of the pole, save for horizontal stripes carved on the exterior of the two poles suggests that the poles were created during the Unified Silla period. Unified Silla ( 668 CE - 935 CE or Later Silla is the name often applied to the kingdom of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of
Preservation and restoration
In 1910 only a part of the west pagoda (South Korean National Treasure No. The National Treasures of Korea are a numbered set of tangible treasures artifacts sites and buildings which are recognized by South Korea as having exceptional artistic 11) was still standing. In 1914, the Japanese government supported it with a concrete backing. In the late twentieth century, Korean archaeologists conducted extensive excavations, laying the foundation for a partial reconstruction and the interpretive center. The west stone pagoda's concrete support has been removed beginning in 1999, and the entire structure was dismantled. It is undergoing restoration, expected to be completed in 2009.
Archaeological importance
Among the many finds at the temple complex have been stone lanterns and the foundation stones for the columns and terraces on which the temple structure stood. Private houses were simple structures with wooden floors. One record indicates that these houses were reached by ladders. Archaeologists excavating the Mireuksa and Imgangsa temple sites have exhumed tall foundation stones on which wooden floors would have rested. It would appear that this feature was adapted from private houses. The raised floor and heating system later became a characteristic structure of the Korean house.
See also
- List of Korea-related topics
- List of Baekje-related topics
- Korean architecture
- Korean Buddhist temples
- National treasures of Korea
External links
- Official Web page of the Miruk-sa Temple Site
- Cultural Heritage: National Treasure No.11
- Cultural Heritage: Treasure No.236
- Cultural Heritage: Historic Site No.150
- Cultural Heritage: Cultural Property No.171
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